


Arisu in Twisted Wonderland

by FeliciaBelle, Megan_is_MIA



Series: Arisu's Twisted Wonderland [1]
Category: Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Actually the same could be said about all of my readers; I hope everyone has a good day, Azul is gay disaster, Canon Compliant, Canon be throwing wrenches in things, Chapters 1-12 are polished, Che'nya is Arisu's Cheshire Cat, Developing Friendships, Evolving Tags as we go along, Fantasy Violence, Give Riddle Hedgehogs 20forever, Guess we won't be dying like Robins after all, I decided to write this instead of updating any of my other works because I am a simp, Isekai'd, Leona is gay and everyone but Farena knows, Look ma! I have a beta now on some scenes!, Malleus stop hitting on your husband's other suitors, Megan_Is_MIA is my editor and partner in crime, Musical Fic, Nevermind we are dying like robins after all, Polishing as we go, Polishing of old chapters will be happening, Possible Romance (not sure we will see), Red Hornet is an amazing commenter and I hope they have a good day, Song fic, There are four useless homosexuals and they are all in love, Trey is a leprechaun, megan wants to make a vn outta this and feli is along for the ride
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:27:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 37
Words: 144,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25905073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeliciaBelle/pseuds/FeliciaBelle, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megan_is_MIA/pseuds/Megan_is_MIA
Summary: Arisu was too curious for his own good; he had always loved exploring unknown trails with his cousin every summer, but this year he had gone alone.To add onto that, he found himself in a prestigious magic school in another realm!He really should have stayed home that day, how the hell was he going to get back home in one piece?Chapter 1-11 Have been polished and updated.update 3/2/21 we may or may not be trying to make a VN for Arisu cause we're excitable bastards -Megan
Relationships: Everyone/Everyone
Series: Arisu's Twisted Wonderland [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040909
Comments: 415
Kudos: 198





	1. Prologue: Into the Unknown/Grim Grinning Ghosts/Welcome to the Villains' World

**Author's Note:**

> Right, I have no explanation for this; but uh...diving into the Isekai'd bandwagon like everyone else. I'm here now. >.>
> 
> Song titles will be in chapter titles

He could feel it in the air; the heated days were starting to cool down, the chilly mornings, summer was about to end and that meant fall would be around the corner. With summer ending soon, Arisu would find himself on his bike and go down the trails as he did every year during the season; his cousin had taught him the tricks in going at the times where hardly any other people would be out on the trail, be at the movie theaters, or even at the miniature golf course. He took those lessons to heart and he was able to have his I-pod on speaker and have his music on full blast without having to worry about disturbing other riders that would be on the same trail as him. 

Thinking about his cousin, Arisu closed his eyes and smiled; his family wasn’t entirely normal, it was far from that actually. His uncle had married a witch and since then, the families were connected – both mortal and magical traditions were mixed into one; the end results were during the football seasons, they would alternate between the Vikings and Magical Shift – the color schemes of their houses were gold, purple, red, and white. Halloween was a massive festival over at his cousin’s house and Christmas was a winter wonderland over at Arisu’s. Family reunions however; well, meeting extended family always came with interesting stories (how often did one get to say they met the Egyptian Lord of the Dead and Judger of Souls?) Despite the difference in family background, Arisu knew one thing; his cousin always had his back and wasn’t afraid to set a bully on fire if it meant defending him. The two were thick as thieves growing up, every summer they would hang out with the extended family – a boy and girl from different covens, and they would either bike ride on the trail (and explore any strange paths), hangout at the playground, enjoy an ice cream bar on the roof of a school (after begging his aunt to fly them up there), and just do whatever came to mind. It was as if nothing could tear the quartet apart…until his cousin had to fly over to France and attend school there.

School…was probably the only difference between the two; since Arisu and his side weren’t magical at all and were dubbed as Mortals. He had to go to a normal school, one without spellcasting while his cousin got to go to a school called Collinswood and studied the craft there. From what he remembered, Collinswood had schools all over the world and would accept a mortal into their arms if they had any promising features to learn magic – he almost signed up for it, heck, his cousin could read people’s auras! He knew he could learn but…he didn’t. Magic was amazing and all, but it came with risks; and after hearing how his cousin was at constant risk? Nope, he wasn’t going to risk it either, he’d rather just stay on the sides and support him every step of the way – and also help him when able to. Of course, he wasn’t going to lie; he was jealous that his cousin was studying in France. 

Still, even though he was on this ride alone until his cousin returned…he was still going to keep up with tradition! Arisu came to a stop on the trail and parked his bike, he turned to the forest beside him and smiled; every time he came onto the bike trail there was always a new hidden trail within the trees. Actually, now that he thought about it, he took the bike handles and guided the bike onto the path before him. It was time to see where this would go and also brag about any new finds to his cousin the next time they would be on video chat. 

Deeper and deeper he would traverse onto the strange trail before him; thanks to the tall trees the light from the sun was pretty limited so he was essentially in the dark. Arisu felt his heart starting to race from both excitement and fear as a million dreams, fears, and other scenarios filled his head as he tightened his hold on the handlebars. The whole forest was quiet now; which was troublesome if he had to be honest. Usually there would be birds singing in the tree, cicadas screaming, or even the sound of something rustling in the grass; nothing…just deafening silence echoing throughout the trail…at least there was, at first. Then suddenly, he heard a small voice in the distance, too far to make out what was being said.

 **“I can hear you, but I won’t.”** Arisu was frozen in place; was he entering Faerie territory? He’s heard the stories growing up and he knew that being caught by them would just spell trouble. **“Some look for trouble, while others don’t. There’s a thousand reasons, I should go about my day and ignore your whispers which I wish would go away.”**

The voice started to get even louder now, making him freeze in place more than he already was. It was coming straight for him. Oh no, this is probably really bad news. He needs to get out of there, and fast. Arisu turned his bike, frantically hopping on to get out of there quickly, through the path behind him. At least, it should have been there. What on earth was happening? Where did the trail go?! Straining his ears, he heard the voice again but this time it was accompanied by the sound of a horse? As he strained his hearing; he was able to make out some of the words being said; _“Ah…my dear beloved…”_ Beloved? Who? He knew the Fair Folk had an attraction to anyone they deemed beautiful, but he never really saw himself as such. No, he must have misheard that.

 **“You’re not a voice, just a ringing in my ear; and if I hear you, which I don’t, I’ve spoken for I fear.”** Arisu took some steps back and away from the approaching horse and voice, he extended an arm to where the trail used to be and back to where the town would be. **“Everyone I’ve ever loved is here within this town, I’m sorry secret siren, but I’m blocking out your call!”** He had his doubts that riding would get him away, but if there was one rule in horror that he would forever follow; Even if running won’t save you, it’s always best to try.

It was as he called it; he had his doubts that riding away would get him from the strange horse and voice. Despite having turned around and riding back the way he came from, he found himself in the old clearing again and again where the sounds of hooves and the voice were growing louder and louder; he could hear more of what was being said. _“A lovely and noble flower of evil. Truly, you are the most beautiful of all. Magic Mirror on the wall…Who is…”_ Well, that wasn’t ominous in the slightest! 

With a sigh, Arisu straightened himself him and turned to the source of the sound; **“What do you want? ‘Cause you’re keeping me in place, are you here to distract me so I make a big mistake?”** If there was one thing he’s learned from his family when it came to the faeries; don’t let them see you at your weakest. 

An unlikely thought did cross his mind; the fair folk were tricksters by nature, but they would never cause intentional harm unless Arisu did something to them. They were curious as well and want to see what their limits were when it came to curious humans like himself. **“Or are you someone out there, who’s a little bit like me? Who knows deep down I’m not where I’m meant to be?”** He was technically intruding on faerie grounds, so perhaps whoever owned the voice and the horse was wondering why he was here and would go easy on him if he admitted he knew he was where he wasn’t supposed to be. 

And that’s when it came into view; a black carriage carrying an ornate circular mirror with glass a deep emerald color. Despite the skeletal horse carrying it and the fact that it looked like an old funeral carriage, Arisu couldn’t help but to approach it – despite the warning bells going off in his head. Something about the haunting appearance just drew him to it; curiosity outweighed the caution side of things. The horse stayed in place as he tried to pet it; how often did one say that they got to pet an undead horse? He greeted it softly before circling the carriage once and taking in the little details of it.

_“Those who are guided by the dark mirror.”_

Arisu paused and looked around. The good news; the voice from earlier was clear, the bad news; he still had no idea where it was coming from. He knew the owner of it had to be nearby if he was able to hear them that clearly. As he looked around, he noticed a strange eerie light coming from the mirror the carriage had; he should leave, this was a recipe for disaster, is what the small rational voice inside was saying; but he was drawn to it like a moth to the flame.

_“So long as your heart desires, take the hand that appears in the mirror.”_

He did. He threw caution to the wind and reached out to grab hold of the hand that appeared before him and he was pulled through the glass where he saw nothing but shadows. It wasn’t like Arisu was afraid of the dark, but something was unsettling about this realm of darkness that caused his heart to race, he was ready to let go of the hand until the voice returned.

_“For me. For them. For you. We are all running out of time! No matter what, never let go of my hand.”_

Hopefully when the shadows cleared, he would be able to get some answers at the very least.

***  
**

The entrance ceremony was lively as ever – despite some thinking it should remain a serious one. It had appeared that the Ebony Carriage had the tendency to forget some new students so there were numerous times Dire would duck out and quickly collect the late arrivals and slide them into the group to avoid questions. Such was the case with Ace Trappola, the poor boy was pretty disoriented at first upon getting out of the gate; this was on the list of things-to-do list, find a way to make the spell guiding here to be less disorienting on the new arrivals. The boy recovered and immediately flared out his ceremonial robes as his headmaster had led him to the entrance ceremony; and just in time as a student had been sorted into Scarabia, He nodded to Ace and told him to approach the Mirror of Darkness, just one look to the crowd and Dire could see that Prefect Rosehearts was on edge for a bit; he could understand that Trappola-kun could be a little overexcited about finding out his new dorm, but the same could be said for every new student; Prefect Rosehearts definitely needed to relax someday. 

“The shape of thy soul…Heartslabyul.” The mirror called out.

Dire couldn’t help but to chuckle at the young prefect’s expression; well, the students would handle the rest without him. A new late arrival had appeared and it was his duty to collect them after all. He sent Sebek up to the mirror before ducking out and into the room with the gates. It was time to welcome the new student to their wonderful academy and get them settled in their new dorm; ah, he was such a generous headmaster for allowing late arrivals to their school.

That was the plan at least; the room looked like a war zone if the burnt gate was anything to go by. Dear, he hoped the new student was alright! Approaching the gate, he found it to be empty; this was something new, it was unheard of for students to leave the gate on their own – of course, he supposed that the burnt gate was the cause of it. Suppose he had better find their little runaway and guide him back to the entrance ceremony.

It wasn’t that hard to find the missing student; all he had to do was follow the sound of panic and chaos that followed soon after. It led him to the library where a boy with platinum blond hair and honey brown eyes was backing away from a familiar. This simply wouldn’t do at all.

“Ow! What’s with this cord?!” The familiar screamed.

“This is no mere cord; it is a lash of love!” Dire looked over to the shaken boy. “Ah, found you at last! You must be one of the new students! Honestly, I know you must be excited to start your day with us, but to leave the Gate on your own!” He sighed. “And you brought an unruly familiar which as broken a number of rules.”

The familiar growled; “I’m not their freakin’ familiar!”

“Yes, yes. The rebellious ones always say that, hush now.” He covered the creature’s mouth. “Come along now, the entrance ceremony is already well underway!”

Now it was the boy’s turn to be confused. He followed the strange man and the weird floating cat out of the library and into the courtyard. Arisu lost his voice; this is what happened when one threw caution to the wind, he got himself sent to some school in…wherever here was! This was too much for him, he wasn’t even listening to the man talking about…whatever. Alright, panicking wasn’t going to do anything, he had to sort out his thoughts; he was in the forest in town and he went down an unknown path alone, he came across a strange mirror and carriage, and now he was in a school apparently. Those were the facts, he needed to know more about this place.

“Excuse me, sir?” Arisu called out. “Where exactly am I?”

The man turned to him and tilted his head; “What’s this? Are you still dazed?” he placed a golden claw on his chin. “It appears the teleportation magic has left you disoriented; a common side effect; let me give you a brief explanation as we make our way to the ceremony, I’m so gracious like that!”

That was on the debatable side of things. Arisu had to fight the urge to roll his eyes at the self-proclaimed gracious man before him.

“This is Night Raven College!” he motioned to the school around them. “Those magicians blessed with a unique aptitude for magic gather from all over the world, here at the most prestigious magical academy in Twisted Wonderland.” He turned back to Arisu. “And I’m the headmaster, appointed to take care of this academy by the board chairman, Dire Crowely.” He turned back and continued the way to the ceremony. “Only those magicians seen as worthy by the Dark Mirror can attend this school, chosen ones use the gate and are summoned here from around the world…an Ebony carriage carrying a gate should have gone to meet you as well.”

This made perfect sense…not! Arisu may have family who were equipped with magic, but that was because his uncle married a witch! Arisu however, was born a mortal and he would die a mortal, how the fuck did a carriage come and pick him up?!

“I did meet a carriage, but I think there’s been some mistake.” He told the headmaster.

The headmaster just ignored him; “Come now, we have an entrance ceremony to get to.”

The sight they were greeted to was the dorm heads addressing their newest of students in their dorm as well as having Headmaster Dire clearing up any and all misinformation; he had to leave because they were short one student and had to go collect them. That led to all eyes being on Arisu as he was led up to the mirror of darkness, it was clear not a lot of the dorm heads were impressed that they had to wait on one missing student and they were about ready to tear into him the moment he got into one of their dorms.

“State thy name.” The face in the mirror demanded.

“Arisu Shai.” 

That got some whispers in the crowd. “Did he say ‘Shai’ as in…Dalimar-Shai?” “He’s related to the heir?!” “He must be very powerful then!”

“The shape of thy soul…” The mirror went quiet. “I do not know.”

Dire walked up and cleared his throat. “Pardon?”

“I sense not a spark of magic from this one. The color, the shape, all are nothing. Therefore, they are suited for no dormitory.”

Even more whispers arrived. “Maybe he lied about his identity?” “Idiot, no-one would be foolish enough to lie about being related to the Three Heads!” “How the hell does this kid not have magic if he’s related to them!”

“An Ebony Carriage wouldn’t go to meet someone who can’t use magic!” Dire huffed. “In a hundred years, there hasn’t been one mistake in student selection, so why in the world?”

Taking advantage of the Headmaster’s distraction, the strange grey cat broke out of his grasps and loudly proclaimed that unlike the strange human he could use magic. The end result was setting fire to a student and setting fire to the room. Two dorm heads were tasked in chasing and catching the strange creature, and this was enough; Arisu rushed over to the student on fire, taking off his own robe (seriously, how the hell did he get dressed in this?) before smothering the fire out on the burning student.

“Are you alright?” Arisu asked the student.

The student gave a sigh in relief; “Yeah, I’m fine!” 

“This is going to be an odd request; do you know any water-based spells?”

“My unique magic is called Oasis Maker.” He smiled.

“Perfect; think you could extinguish the flames?” Arisu pointed to the room around them.

The student cracked his knuckles and took out a pen. “You new kids sure know how to liven the place up.” He grinned. “let me take care of the flames for ya.”

That was one problem taken care of, all that was left was taking care of the demon cat. Arisu rushed and joined the two students who were after the cat and got in front of the creature, the cat recoiled and its sudden stop was enough for one of the students to act.

**[Off with your head!]**

With the sound of a lock being locked in place, the cat was seen wearing some heart-shaped collar. Growling, it tried to burn the collar off before paling in realization that it sealed off his magic. The first student calmly walked up and grabbed the cat before carrying it out of the room, presumably to throw it out. Once the calm settled, the headmaster told everyone to escort their students to their respective dorms while he dealt with the new student. Not even bothering to hesitate a second longer, Arisu had followed the headmaster out of the mirror chamber and to someplace a little more private to talk in; more specifically, they were back at the library.

“I hope you know it’s considered a serious offense to make false claims about the Three Heads.” He started out.

“I know.” Arisu sighed. “My aunt drilled that into both my head and Tori’s when we were growing up.”

“Your…aunt?’ he was taken by surprised.

“My mortal uncle married a witch.” Arisu explained. “My side isn’t magical; we’ve only been exposed to it.” 

Dire placed a gold claw on his chin again in thought; “I see…that’s why your last name is Shai but the Dark Mirror couldn’t detect magic in you…Hmm.” He straightened up. “Regardless, I can not take your word at face value, do you have any form of identification on you? License for a magic car? Name on a shoe?’

“I have my phone.” Arisu reached into his pocket for it. “Let me call my aunt and she will confirm my story.” He paled when he felt nothing. He tried searching through his other pockets, nothing. “W-Where did my phone go?! I know damn well I had it when I was in the forest!”

Dire just hummed and nodded; “I see…this is quite the predicament you’re in; I can’t allow someone who can’t use magic to stay at this school. However, as an educator, I can’t toss a penniless teenager out on the street with no form of identification or communication.” He paced around. “We can’t really call Lady Elaine about you, there’s a strong chance she would debunk your claims and we’d be in a deeper mess than already. Ah! There’s an unused building on campus, it was once used as a dormitory in the past and with a little cleaning up, you should at least be able to stay there while I look for a way to get you home!”

Arisu sighed and crossed his arms; “Can’t you call Lord Shai about me then?”

“Afraid in cases like this, I would have to call the current head of the Sennen Coven or the heir and that boy is studying in Paris. It would be very rude of me to disrupt the heir over matters like this.”

“He’s my _cousin_! I’m sure he can make time for me!” 

“Yes, yes, you’ve made that claim already.” Dire motioned him to follow him. “Come along now, Arisu, let’s get you settled into your temporary dorm.”  
  
 *****

It just needed a little cleaning up, yeah right. Arisu stared at the old dorm before him and shook his head, he demanded to know if the place had insurance to which the Headmaster stared blankly at him; great, he was probably going to die inside the old dorm when the next storm hit. Upon entering, it was even worse than the outside; the dust looked like snow! Just how old was this place, exactly? Well, beggars couldn’t really be choosers, he couldn’t really room with the other students for the obvious reason and this was the only place that he knew of; taking off the ceremonial robe and propping open a window or two to avoid inhaling the dust, he set off to find some cleaning supplies.

Thankfully, there were cleaning supplies – a little dated from the looks of them, but they would do for the time being. An old broom to help sweep the floor (“Hey, maybe I might get muscles going if I sweep the whole lounge”), feather duster to clean some of the higher places (who the hell uses a feather duster anymore?), and as for the furniture; he just had to take the plastic sheeting off and he could use them. This was as good as he was going to get the place to settle in – just for tonight at least, he had time to renovate little by little.

**Drip**

He called it; the roof was going to be his biggest concerns. Surely this place had some old bowls that could catch the water drops.

“Hyii! It’s really coming down!”

“You can say that again.” Arisu blinked after he replied. “Hold on…” he turned and saw the familiar grey cat that was thrown out of the entrance ceremony. “What the-! How the hell did you get back here!?”

The cat laughed and held himself. “If you think getting thrown out is gonna make me give up on getting in, you’ve got another thing coming!”

“I am too tired for this.” Arisu sat on the couch and looked at him. “Alright you floating tanuki, humor me, why do you want to go to this school so badly?”

“Grr! The Great Grim is not a tanuki!” Grim huffed and sat on the table. “I’m a genius who is destined to be a great magician! I don’t know how you, a faker, attracted the Ebony Carriage, but I’ve been waiting for it to come pick me up!” he looked down slightly before puffing his cheeks out. “Hmph! The Dark Mirror just doesn’t have an eye for greatness! That’s why I came here on my own, not letting me in would be a loss for the world.” He grinned. “Humans just don’t get it.”

Arisu rolled his eyes. “I didn’t lie about who I am, my cousin and his family are the magicians of the family; my side is completely mortal.” 

Grim looked up surprised, just like the headmaster; “You’re…really related to the Three Heads? You’re the heir’s cousin! Then…why didn’t the Dark Mirror put you in a dorm?”

“Because I turned down my aunt’s offer in magic lessons.” Arisu said with a shrug. “She said I had an affinity for earth-based magic, but…to me the risks outweighed the pros and I didn’t want to get mixed up in that.”

“Grr! You have to take risks in life!” Grim snapped. “Otherwise how will you be a great magician!”

“I do take risks in life; I took the risk of traveling down a hidden path in the forest knowing full well I might be straying into a faerie court.” Arisu had a light smile on his face. “My risks are just different than yours.”

Grim just huffed; the human did have a point and if the human hadn’t taken the risk of entering the forest alone, he wouldn’t be here in the school. His eyes lit up at an idea and almost immediately jumped onto Arisu’s shoulder with a grin again, his forked tail was swaying with delight.

“Alright, so you do take risks, that’s perfect!” he patted his chest with his paw. “The Great Grim is skilled in fire magic and you…are magicless, so, this is what we’re going to do; you’re going to convince the headmaster to let you in as a student, you’re going to tell him that you’re learning pyromancy from the awesomeness that is me! In return of me teaching you how to shoot flames from your hands, you have to let me go to class with you!”

Arisu shook his head, “You really are hellbent in getting into the school, aren’t you.”

**Drip**

“And a new leak sprung.” He sighed and got up. “Okay, if you want to help me, get off and let’s get some bowls for the leaks; we’re in for a long, wet, night.”

Grim grumbled as they left for the old kitchen and started to dig out every bowl, pot, and cup they could find (add in plates in case the cups overflow as well). After setting them up where the leaks were…it looked like a warzone of kitchenware, the two just looked at each other in silence before shaking their heads; there wasn’t much they could do – Grim only had a hand in fire magic, and Arisu had no magic at all. It would have to do for the time being.

As they were about to relax the sounding of a bell chime rang through the dorm; the old cuckoo clock was still working after all of these years, that had to be an impressive feat. Deciding not to pay much attention to it, they went back to talking about Grim’s many schemes to become a student in Night Raven – Arisu was just humoring him throughout the whole ordeal up until new voices chimed in, breaking them from their conversation. 

**“When the crypt doors creak and the tombstones quake.”** A ghost had appeared and tipped its hat. **“Spooks come out for a singing wake.”** As if on cue, a ghost appeared behind Arisu and another behind Grim before harmonizing with the first ghost; **“Happy haunts materialize, and begin to vocalize. Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!”**

Both Arisu and Grim jumped off the couch and placed a distance between them and the ghosts; of course, this dorm was haunted, why wouldn’t it be?! Despite his claims of not being a cat, Grim was arched up and hissing at them – if the situation were different, Arisu would have found this rather adorable. But this was not that case, and it looked like Grim’s antics got the ghosts targeting him.

 **“Now don’t close your eyes, and don’t try to hide.”** The first ghost covered Grim’s eyes and another showed up beside the cat, causing Grim to shoot upwards out of fear. **“Or a silly spook my sit by your side.”**

Arisu wasn’t faring any better as the third showed up wearing one of the protection sheets and standing behind him. **“Shrouded in a daft disguise, they pretend to terrorize.”** Arisu jumped and cried out, clutching his chest. The ghosts laughed and regrouped; **“Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.”**

“Arisu! Do something about them!” Grim cried from his hiding spot.

“What the hell do you want me to do?!” Arisu demanded. “Unless you have sage on hand, I can’t do a damn thing!” In all honesty, he didn’t want to do anything, there was something about the ghosts’ behavior that was setting him off…there were different types of ghosts in the world; the trick was trying to figure out which one these trio fell under.

He didn’t have time to think as the curtains were yanked off to show a full moon outside and lighting the lounge in natural ‘stage light’. Grim was grabbed again as he was forced to dance with one of the ghosts; **“As the moon climbs high o’er the dead oak tree, spooks arrive for the midnight spree.”** A set of glowing eyes appeared outside the windows caused Grim’s fur to stick up on end. **“Creepy creeps with eerie eyes, start to shriek and harmonize!”** Whatever was out there gave a shrill scream that caused Grim to nearly jump out of his skin. **“Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize”**

“Grim!” Arisu went to rush over to his weird feline companion but found himself to be pulled back by the second ghost; he struggled in their arms as the two made him walk to the moonlit stage like some morbid wedding march – didn’t help that the third was throwing old rice at them; **“When you hear the knell of a requiem bell.”** the first ghost was now dragging Grim over in the same fashion (“If I could claw you, I would!”) **“Weird glows gleam where spirits dwell.”** The two living beings were pushed into each other’s arms, as the bells started to chime. They looked at each other before pushing away and turning back to the trio rejoined. **“Restless bones etherealize, rise as spooks of every size! Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!”** They took their hats off and gave a bow to them.

It took a while in silence before Arisu could put two and two together. “Tricksters.” He finally said. “You three fall under the trickster category of hauntings.” Well…now his heart can stop racing.

Grim growled and looked at the ghosts; “You mean to tell me they were just messing with us!?”

The first ghost laughed and held himself; “We haven’t had a guest in so long, the people who used to live here got scared of us and left!”

“Can you blame them!” Arisu cried. “We thought we were going to die!”

“No! We would never want to cause such harm to new friends!” The second one flew over and held his hand out. “Arisu, right? And Grim? You two were so much fun to play with! I’m Futuro, at your service!”

The other two grinned, the first placed his hat back on. “Passe, and this charming fellow beside me is Paron!”

Past, present, and future…kind of strange names, but Arisu gave up on expecting anything normal after everything that has happened so far in his life. He just sighed and shook his head; “Listen, as fun as it was joining you in your musical number, I’m afraid I have bigger problems to fret about.”

Paron thought for a bit and tapped his chin in thought; “We’ve heard about your situation; and we might have a way to get the Headmaster to consider letting you in the school.”

Grim climbed up on Arisu’s shoulder and tilted his head; “You’re going to help us?” his eyes lit up. “Tell us! Tell us how you’re going to help us!”

“Patience my furry friend!” Passe laughed. “It’s simple; we’re entertainers by heart, we’re going to give the Headmaster a show! You two are going to ‘drive us out of the dorm’ right in front of him! When he sees how well you work together, he’ll have to let you into the school as students!”

“That…sounds crazy enough to work.” Arisu admitted. “Grim, I hope you’re not too tired after torching the entrance ceremony.”

Grim grinned and wagged his tail, “I’m in! We’re ready whenever you are!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DIDN'T NEED SLEEP!
> 
> Alternatively: Arisu Vs. Ace

Maintenance workers. All this just to become the handymen of the school! To say that Arisu and Grim were unhappy was the biggest understatement of the century, heck, even their ghost friends weren’t happy with the results. The first night was pretty decent, the ghosts were taking care of emptying the water-filled dishware and making sure that Arisu and Grim got the sleep they needed that night, in the morning they provided the wakeup call for the two and even helped out in Grim’s idea of teaching Arisu pyromancy. The end result was that he could only cause a spark and nothing more…but that didn’t discourage the strange grey cat in the slightest, he proclaimed after they were done with today’s chores, they would have the rest of the day to try again!

Arisu couldn’t help but to smile at that, even though the strange floating tanuki was only doing this for his own personal gain, he had a feeling deep down that Grim actually cared. After getting dressed in the new clothes that the headmaster had provided (“Sam was giving a discount on clothing”), he left the old dorm with Grim following behind him; they looked over their list of chores for the day and nodded at them, it would be a quick morning for them and they could have the rest of the day to themselves. 

Upon arriving at main street, Arisu froze in place at the sight of the seven statues before him; he knew he would be in another realm but…the stories he grew up to were immortalized here! Well, seven of the stories he grew up to were immortalized here that is; it only took a swift poke from Grim to break him out of his stupor as his strange feline friend went up to the first statue; The Queen of Hearts.

“Hey, Arisu!” He pointed at the statue; “Mainstreet is amazing, check this lady out, who is she?” 

“You don’t know who the Queen of Hearts is?” a new voice called.

The new arrival was a boy with dark orange hair and red eyes. Over his right eye, he has a red patch shaped like a heart. He wore the uniform for the school, a red ribbon was on his left arm, black gloves, and a black blazer jacket that rested over a red vest that covered a white shirt; he had a black and white striped tie, and a red pen rested in the left breast pocket.

“Grim might not know, but I do.” Arisu said. “She’s the ruler of Wonderland and her reputation isn’t a good one; she was known to behead people if she was crossed even in the slightest of inconvenience. Of course, given that Wonderland is a land of nonsense, one had to be strict…she was just too strict with the rules and frankly I’m amazed no-one revolted against her.”

The boy frowned at that and crossed his arms; “Just because she valued rules and discipline does not mean she was a bad ruler.” He walked up. “You said it yourself, she ruled a land of nonsense and madness; nobody would listen to a queen who’s just nice all the time.”

“He’s right, Arisu!” Grim chimed. “A strong leader is better!” he looked at the red-head. “By the way, who are you?”

The frown was replaced with a grin; “I’m Ace! Fresh first-year here.”

“I’m the Great Grim! A being who is destined to become the greatest magician!” he landed on Arisu’s shoulder. “This is my student, Arisu Shai; we’re working on pyromancy!”

“Arisu?” Ace repeated, his grin grew when he saw a tired look on Arisu’s face. “Does this make you Alice in Twisted Wonderland?” 

“Somehow I knew you were going to crack that joke.” Arisu sighed. “Yes, I’m aware my name is similar sounding to that of Alice; my blond hair doesn’t entirely help my case in the slightest.”

“Or your preference to powder-blue clothing.” He poked at Arisu’s light blue shirt. “I’m just going to call you Alice from now on.”

Grim growled; “Hey! Show my apprentice some respect!” he flew over to the lion statue. “And tell us who this lion is! He has a cool scar on his face!”

Ace laughed; “Whatever you say ‘Great Grim’.” He walked over. “That’s the King of the Beast who rules the Savanna; he wasn’t born to be king, but he took the throne through effort and elaborate planning. After he became king, he allowed the loathed hyenas to live in his kingdom without discrimination.”

Partially true, however, the ‘King’ was a false king; his elaborate plan was to not only kill the current king but also the prince! And there was no guarantee that he was a great ruler in the end, actually no, he wasn’t. Food was scarce when Scarr was in power. Arisu just crossed his arms and shook his head at the explanation, he really didn’t want to waste energy on that explanation.

“I like his style!” Grim chimed. “He ruled without prejudice, and I’m teaching without such! I’m on my way to be a great magician already!”

“So, you claim.” Arisu humored him. “Allow me, your student, to introduce you to the one and only; Ursula, the Sea Witch.” He motioned to the statue beside him. “Sister to King Triton and daughter to Poseidon; she was exiled from Atlantica and became a businesswoman; however, her methods tend to be on the shady side – especially since she only agreed to help Princess Ariel in her wish just to go through with some elaborate plan to rule the seven seas.”

“I’m starting to think you grew up in a pessimistic household.” Ace narrowed his eyes. “She helped any and all unfortunate merfolk as long as they could pay the price. She could transform you, help you find love, anything if it was within her power!” 

“Strict, just, and rich!” Grim snickered; “All great promises to become a great magician!” he pointed to another. “What about this man in the big hat? He looks like a cobra! Arisu, do you think he’s related to the Shai family?” his tail wagged at the thought.

“Absolutely not!” Arisu cried. “I’ve memorized the family tree and I can assure you, Jafar is not on either side!”

Ace laughed and wiped an imaginary tear from his eyes. “You clearly haven’t heard the term ‘black sheep of the family’, of course you would be right, he’s not from the Shai family.” He looked at Jafar’s statue. “Ah, the Sorcerer of the Sand, he was a cunning cabinet minister to a foolish sultan and saw through the fake prince that was actually a street rat trying to deceive the princess.”

“Just hold the damn phone!” Arisu snapped. “First of all; the princess was the one who found out about him before Jafar did – as far as I know. And not only that, but the ‘street rat’ and her had met before coming into possession of the lamp and he wanted to be with her; the law said that she had to marry a prince, he just found a loophole in it.”

“And if she felt the same way she could have talked to the sultan about that and make it so the street rat had a chance.” Ace shot back. “She didn’t, he still deceived her, and the sorcerer became a powerful sorcerer with the help of the lamp – which, he rightfully took from the thief – and became sultan.”

Arisu was about to snap back but Grim was quick, he yanked on his hair and swatted him. “Quit fighting with the other students, you’re making me look like a bad teacher, Ari!” he scolded. “Now hush, and let Ace finish telling me about these amazing magicians!” he went up to a beautiful queen. “Like this regal beauty~”

“She is the Beautiful Queen; everyday she would check the “Beauty Ranking” in her magic mirror and when it looked like she might fall from the number one spot, she never hesitated to do anything to get it back. I guess she had the strong will to remain the most beautiful in the world? They say she was even adept at making poisons.”

Yeah, she just had to poison the competition and be a living version of Krista Sparks – aka Dollface from Twisted Metal. Queen Grimhilde worked hard for her beauty, just so long as the competition was buried six feet down. Arisu just huffed and turned his face away, keeping quiet at Grim’s request.

“So scary!” Grim hid behind Arisu. “Arisu…is that man…” he pointed to the statue of Hades.

“Okay, my knowledge on him is limited; Hades is the god of the underworld, he’s the eldest of the three brothers; Poseidon was the middle child and Zeus was the youngest.” Arisu looked at him. “I know he’s also married to Persephone and unlike his brothers, he’s actually faithful to her.”

“And he’s won over Cerberus, the Hydra, and even the Titans to fight for him!” Ace added. 

“Okay, but Cerberus is a good boy.” Arisu pointed out. “He’s a loyal doggo.”

“Hmm” Grim tilted his head. “So, having talent doesn’t mean you get to be haughty…and the last one, with the horns?”

Just looking at her made his blood run cold; “Maleficent, the Mistress of all evil.” Arisu breathed out. 

“Noble and elegant, even within the Seven, she’s top class in magic and curses.” Ace supplied. “She can summon lightning and storms, cover an entire country in thorns, her magic is on a whole other level.”

“I believe her most famous line is ‘Now you shall deal with me and the forces of hell’.” Arisu nodded. “A beautiful yet deadly faerie.”

“Dragon-born if you want to be detailed since there was a time she turned into a dragon.” 

Grim’s eyes lit up. “A dragon!? All monsters look up to them!”

“They’re so cool.” Ace agreed. “Unlike a certain racoon and faker.” He smirked.  


Doctor Wilson once said “Flight or fight indicates a permanent choice, but flight often means putting off the flight for another day. Choose your battles wisely.” and in most cases he would actually be right. Arisu scowled as Ace was laughing and holding his sides; he was there at the ceremony when Grim torched the place and when he made the ‘false claim’ of his lineage in front of the majority of the school. His exact wording was that it took everything he had to not lose it at the ceremony. Needless to say, both Grim and Arisu found Ace to be rude as hell.

“You’re not allowed to be a student and got demoted to janitor duty, on top of that; one of you have no knowledge of the Great Seven while the other has some serious misinformation about them! Seriously, how ignorant can you be?” he held his forehead. “You should head back to kindergarten before coming to Night Raven College.”

“News flash, I didn’t even want to be here, the Ebony Carriage made a mistake.” Arisu snapped

Ace laughed; “And that’s why it was so easy to mess with you both.” He turned and started to leave. “Well, if you’ll excuse me; I actually have class to get to unlike you two; keep this school squeaky clean, will you~”

“That jerk…he’s just going to say that and leave!” Grim growled, his teeth were showing.

Arisu grabbed the ribbon Grim wore; “Grim, it’s not worth it, just let him go.”

He underestimated how strong the grey cat was because Grim broke free and tried to torch Ace on the spot. Arisu rushed out to try and break the fight up – that earned a scratch to the arm by Grim, and the fight continuing. It brought the attention of different students as Ace would use wind magic to deflect Grim’s fire magic, for a brief moment, Arisu was impressed that the student was able to use wind magic. The brief awe came to an end when some of the students were cheering Ace on; this was not the time to be egging the two fighters on, definitely not when one could throw the fire at a different target. And a new target was found…the Queen of Hearts statue. Arisu buried his face into his hands; so much for their first day here at Night Raven College, Crowley was going to be pissed when he sees this.

Both stared in horror at the sight of the burnt statue before they tried going down the physical route of fighting. That action only lasted until a familiar lash came out and bound the two. The Lash of Love…only one person had that and Arisu felt dread building up. The headmaster was here and he could feel the aura of anger radiating off of him – he didn’t even need to turn around to see the pissed off expression he had.

“Didn’t I tell you yesterday to not cause any trouble?” Dire looked at a pale Grim before turning to Ace. “And you go and char the statues of the Great Seven! I very much would like to see you expelled for that.”

“It wasn’t his fault-!” Arisu tried. “Okay, he did redirect the fire but it was because of Grim’s fire but…” he froze when those golden eyes were on him. “Grim only acted up because…”

“You said you would supervise him, did you not?” Dire asked.

“I…did…”

“This is not how you supervise him!” he looked back to Ace. “You, what’s your grade and name?”

Ace lowered his head; “Ace Trappola, first year…sir.”

He nodded; “As punishment, the three of you are to wash a hundred windows around campus.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Arisu cried.

“It’s because this jerk was making fun of us!” Grim growled out.

“Why the hell do I have clean windows!” Ace pointed to the two; “They’re the ones who started this mess!”

“I don’t care who started it, I’m ending it!” Dire crossed his arms. “After school, all three of you are to report to the cafeteria, is that understood!”

It was a reluctant agreement before the crowd died off. Arisu looked at Grim with a silent tired look before grabbing the nearby rake that was left for them and started to rake up the fallen autumn leaves that were starting to form. Grim’s ears flattened as he sat on his shoulder and gently touched the scratch he caused, Arisu assured him it wasn’t the first he’s been scratched by a cat – Teacup was in a bad mood the last time he met the little tabby. Grim just huffed at the mention of being a called a cat but jumped from his shoulder and lightly torched the leaf pile and using his tail to spread the ashes into the ground as he followed Arisu to finish clearing up main street. They did this for the courtyard and a few times they would catch a curious look from a student, Grim gave an excited wave while Arisu just kept his head down.

The rest of the day’s chores went by with little problem and the two were able to get something from the cafeteria sometime after the students had cleared out; they were in the library where Grim was still teaching Arisu the basics of magic and even guiding him in runes (“Granted, the amazing being I am don’t need runes, you humans do!”). The spark was still there but nothing official had been brought forth; Arisu just shrugged apologetically to Grim, he was doing everything he could in the arts. Grim just assured him that he would be able to shoot fire soon, he just needed to focus more! In all honesty, Arisu couldn’t help himself but to smile at Grim’s persistence; he actually found it endearing and adorable that this strange creature was doing everything in his power to teach him.

When it came to the end of the day, it was just the two of them waiting for Ace to show up. Arisu had offered Grim a simple solution to the window chores; they would each take twenty-five windows totaling seventy-five between them, and as for the final twenty-five, they would regroup and take them to get it done. True it would take a while, but it would go faster if they divided and conquered. Grim agreed, even though his forked tail was twitching in annoyance – not that Arisu could blame him, if Ace hadn’t shot his mouth off like that the domino effect wouldn’t have happened. Still, Grim was also at fault for choosing to start a fight rather than leave well alone, so perhaps this was just karma justice? Time had passed and no sign of Ace, they figured he might be held up by a teacher and tried to give him a few more minutes.

Minutes had passed and it was officially thirty minutes after school had ended. This was ridiculous on so many levels, the two got up and started their search for him – with the help of some of the paintings they were able to find him in a hall of mirrors. Ace paled slightly before glaring at the two before he tried running, Grim gave chase without a second thought and Arisu was right on his tail. This kept up until a student was nearly barreled over and Arisu called for help; the good news was that the student did indeed help!

Grim was laughing; “Arisu! Check it out! Ace is flat as a pancake under that cauldron!”

“I…didn’t think I’d get a cauldron.” The student covered his mouth. “Did I overdo it?”

Now that he had a chance to catch his breath, Arisu was able to get a better look at the student before him; he was in the same uniform as Ace and even had the same pen, the student had dark blue hair and teal eyes, his hair brushed mostly to the side while a portion hangs down on his right side. Over his left eye, he has a large black patch shaped like a spade. 

He stood up and brushed off his shirt before going up to him; “Thanks for helping.”

“Seriously, what the hell! You have a floating tanuki to help you clean a hundred windows!” Ace yelled

“Headmaster’s orders, Ace.” Arisu reminded. “Besides, I had a system in place to make it easier for this three-person job!”

The student looked at Ace and raised an eyebrow; “You have to clean a hundred windows as punishment? What the hell did you do?”

“That kid’s tanuki attacked me, I was only defending myself and, in the process, I burnt one of the statues of the Great Seven.” Ace huffed

“You damaged one of the Great Seven statues?! No wonder you got in trouble, you get into a prestigious school and then do something like that on the first day?!”

“Shut up, who are you anyway?” he demanded

“I’m Deuce. Deuce Spade, would it kill you to remember your classmates’ face at least.” Deuce faltered a little, “Umm…”

“You haven’t even memorized mine either!” Ace snapped.

Deuce recovered; “Anyway! If you were ordered by the headmaster, that means you take it seriously!”

“Finally, someone who agrees.” Arisu sighed in relief. “Seriously Ace, just come with Grim and I and just get it over with.”

“Fine, fine.” Ace huffed. “Hey…your tanuki’s been pretty quiet.”

The dawn of realization kicked in; GRIM JUST DITCHED THEM!

“I’m going to fucking skin that damn Tanuki!” Arisu cried out.

One thing led to another; Ace and Deuce teamed up to chase after Grim which led them to the cafeteria where he hid on one of the chandeliers, Arisu had called out to him saying that they had an agreement (to which Grim just said he had two other humans to help him instead and that the said agreement didn’t come with cleaning windows). It was frustrating to say the least. The group was trying to brainstorm to figure out how to get Grim down and how to get through the punishment; nothing they were coming up with was a solid solution to getting the damn cat from the chandelier.

That was the original thought, Deuce came up with an idea afterwards; he looked to Ace and casted a spell to make him float. Arisu paled at the motion and even tried talking Deuce out of whatever idea he was coming up with, his pleas went unheard as the dark-haired boy and threw him towards the chandelier. It felt like time slowed down; the action did get Grim down…along with Ace and along with the chandelier that now laid in shambles, and a very pissed off headmaster. It had happened so fast that he barely heard much of the commotion that had happened except for hearing the word; expelled. Arisu just paled as the word echoed in his head and fell still as he watched Ace and Deuce try to get Headmaster Crowley to reconsider; the end result was either pay a billion Madol…or they try and find a replacement magical stone. But the mines that had them are dried out. It was a slim chance but the two were going to take it; Deuce grabbed Grim and carried him off, Ace grabbed Arisu and carried him as well towards the Mirror Chamber where the Dark Mirror would take them to the Dwarfs’ mine. 

Despite having grown up in a town surrounded by forests; the ones here were different than the ones in Sunnydale, it didn’t have the same…it was hard to pinpoint what it was. When Arisu went through the trail back home he could always smell lilacs even when they weren’t in bloom, hear the song of the loons and doves, and feel the rush of the breeze even when he closed his eyes. Here…it was more like he found himself in the middle of a horror movie; there was no breeze, even with the flowers there wasn’t the beautiful scent –

“Oi! Alice!” Ace called. “Are you done spacing out?” 

Arisu looked at Ace and nodded; “Sorry…this is a whiplash compared to the forest I grew up in.” 

“A forest is a forest, let’s go.” Ace led the way. “We have a magic stone to get.”

No two forests were alike, that’s what Arisu wanted to say the most to him. With a huff, he just followed the group to the old mines and started to go in with the group; despite the beautiful gems that filled the mine, none of them were the magical stones that they needed but that didn’t stop him from going after some of the more common stones such as rubies and sapphires; they would be perfect for charm making. They kept going further and further into the mine before they were approached by ghosts – unlike the ones from the Ramshackle dorm, these ghosts in particular were pretty volatile and the group ended up running to put some distance between them before they came out to the entrance again. A brief dispute happened before they were able to go back in and show the ghosts who was the boss; it was a quick and easy fight and Ace, Deuce and Grim had a moment where they were able to high-five each other. The feeling left just as fast as they returned to going through the mins and looking for the stone; the good news; they found one! Just as Arisu was going to grab it, there was sound of a drop somewhere and a ghastly voice.

He looked to his team and asked if they said something, the three shook their heads. Arisu turned back and reached for the magical stone, as he got close a pick ax came and crashed close to his hand. He cried out in surprised and scampered away; the other three were just as surprised as this…words couldn’t really describe what they were looking at! It was as if they were looking at Slenderman’s ink faced cousin! They hardly time to register anything as Arisu dodged another swing of the ax, his honeyed eyes were honed in on the being before him and couldn’t move from where he was – he was frozen in terror! He only heard “Alice!” and felt someone grabbing him just as the ax was coming down towards him again. The rest was a blur he didn’t even realized they were outside of the mines and back at the old cottage.

“Alice.” Ace gently patted his cheek. “Come on, snap out of it!”

Blinking, Arisu looked around before turning to Ace. “Thank you…if you were the one who carried me out that is.”

“Don’t get used to it.” Ace huffed. “Look, I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be expelled than fight that thing and die.”

“What?!” Deuce looked at him like he grew a second head. “I’d rather die than face expulsion! There’s a magic crystal in front of us and you wanna go home?!”

“Great, then you can go on ahead alone.” Ace grabbed Arisu’s shoulder. “Me? I’m taking him with to face the music.”

“Don’t go deciding other people’s fate!” Deuce pulled the boy away from Ace. “We wouldn’t be in this mess if you had just shown humility and went through with the punishment the Headmaster had set!” he went towards the mines. “Whatever, you go on ahead, I’m getting that crystal on my own.

“Given with how well your plan to get the tanuki from the chandelier, have fun with that; you’re going to die in there!”

Enough! Arisu gave a sharp whistle; “Will you two knock it off!” he yelled. “We’re all to blame here! Ace, you’re too brash and your teasing is what instigated the problem!” he looked to Grim; “Your damn pride and not letting something small go is what caused that statue to be burnt in the first place!” he turned to Deuce; “And your attack first think later strategy is what broke the chandelier in the process!” He looked down a bit; “And me not stopping the fight between Ace and Grim is just to blame. We’re all to blame and this petty fight is getting us nowhere!”

There was deafening silence as the two boys and the cat creature turned their gazes away out of shame. They sat in silence for a little while before Grim finally spoke. “Damn humans and their morals.” He looked up at Arisu. “Well…how are we going to get the stone; in case you forgot, you’re magicless and the closest to magic you can do is just cause a spark.”

“He’s right, you’re just a mortal.” Ace pointed out. “If you were to go back in there without some form of defense, you’re screwed.”

“Who said I need magic?” Arisu smirked. “Whatever that…thing is, I doubt it’s bright.” He pointed out. “I think we can get its attention and have a small group go in, grab the stone, and get out while he’s occupied.”

“Add in something heavy like a cauldron.” Grim looked at Deuce. “We can buy more time as well for the stone retrieval group!”

“That…does sound crazy enough to work.” Deuce agreed. “Alright, let’s do this.”

*  
Clang.

Crack.

Even from within the mines, that sounded painful. Arisu shuddered as he imagined what could have happened to the creature as he and Ace were digging the stone out; okay, it was actually Arisu who was digging it out as Ace played watch and only jumping in to help at the last minute when he heard Deuce and Grim calling for them, the cauldron wasn’t going to keep the creature pinned down forever. After finally getting the stone out, they didn’t waste any time in running out of there.

Running could only do so much, the creature recovered and started giving chase. This wasn’t good, if this kept up, there was a chance it could follow them into the school – and that was the very last thing they needed. They had to weaken it here and now; Ace, Grim, and Deuce were casting spells to tire it out, as for Arisu; he grabbed a pick ax from the old cottage and charged with it. His allies called to him telling him to pull back.

Shatter

He wasn’t really expecting that to work. Sure, Arisu used to be in baseball when he was in elementary, but a pick ax is relatively heavier than a baseball bat and he had his doubts that he would be able to make any damage. He was wrong, and he was covered in ink after that. It was unlikely that the shower at Ramshackle worked, maybe he could ask Ace and Deuce for their shower at least until the old dorm gets renovated.

“You lunatic!” Ace was laughing. “Guess being a mortal has its usages!” 

Grim was holding onto Ace, laughing as well. “Where did…where did you even get that idea!”

“Shut up, I wasn’t expecting that to work.” He wiped the ink from his face. “And Ace, I’m using your dorm’s shower when we get back to school.”

That got him to stop laughing. “What? No, use the one at Ramshackle!”

“It probably doesn’t even work!”

“Then use the gym’s showers, you’re not tracking ink all over the dorm!”

Grim sighed and went to lay on the ground; “Augh, I don’t know about you…but…can we go back to school? We won, we got the stone, we’re students again, and I’m starving from that battle!” his eyes lit up and tilted his head. “What’s this?” he picked up a stone laying on the ground.

All attention was on the stone now, Deuce looked at it and tilted his head; “It looks like a magic crystal, did the monster have that on him?”

“Hey, two magic crystals for the price of one; Headmaster’s going to be so impressed!” Ace grinned.

“It smells good!” Grim purred.

“Grim, don’t you dare!” Arisu tried to grab it from him.

He ate it. The tanuki ate it with no problem. 

“Delicious! It’s full-bodied, but also rich, with an aromatic sweetness!” Grim was gushing about it.

“Grim so help me if you get sick and throw up, I am kicking you out of the dorm!” Arisu hissed

“Don’t worry, my stomach isn’t weak like yours!”

Arisu shook his head “Switching gears for the better, let’s get this back to the school.”


	3. Chillin Like a Villain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that we have this done; I can do some side things for Ace, Deuce, Grim and Arisu before we do Crimson Tyrant!
> 
> Song: Chillin Like a Villain - Descendants 2

He lost count how many times he filled out the forms for expulsion that at this point he just stopped filling them out altogether. Dire Crowley tapped his clawed fingers on the desk as he played with a pen in his other hand and looking over a notebook filled with vague sentences and scribbled out ideas, was keeping Arisu here the right idea? He believed so, that boy was important with or without coven ties – Grim was a big concern to him as well, Arisu had promised he’d keep Grim under control but if that incident on Main Street was anything to go off of, he had his serious doubts. With a sigh, he rubbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head; this had to work, he couldn’t afford another failure. He refused to let failure happen again.

He was taken out of his thoughts when he heard his door open and Mr. Trappola’s voice rang out, drawing his attention over.

“We got the stone, Headmaster!” Ace proclaimed as he held the magic stone up. “We got it in the time frame, we’re still students here!”

There were a lot of things in the school that no longer had an effect on Dire; he had learned long ago to expect the unexpected, however, what he wasn’t expecting was seeing three disheveled students and a familiar holding up a magical stone with a triumphant look on their faces. He won’t lie, he wasn’t entirely expecting them to have succeeded in the impossible task, yet here they were standing tall and proud. Students driven with determination; he was so proud of them! Of course, what was concerning was seeing Arisu covered in ink, upon asking what happened the group told the story about the monster they fought in the mines – that was something he wasn’t really expecting to hear nor was he expecting to hear that the mortal charged with a pickax and took down said monster. Arisu ‘Shai’, a curious mortal to say the least.

“Well, seeing how you were able to complete the task you two boys get to be students again.” Dire got up to get the stone from them, he was taken by surprise when Grim took it and hid in a corner of the ceiling. “What?”

Ace had a smirk on his face. “We have some conditions in place if you want this stone.” He held one finger up. “First; you have to let Arisu attend school here as a student.” 

Dire nodded; “I can see what I can do about alternate coursework for him.” He offered. “But he will need to be under the care of some of the more…advanced students for the magic courses, someone should bring that magic spark out for him” he folded his hands together. “Was there anything else, Trappola-kun?” Dire asked

Ace shook his head and nodded to Grim to hand the stone over; “Just one final thing; help fix up that old dorm you put Arisu in!”

“It will take some time.” He reminded as he took the stone. “But it’s a deal, I’ll take it from here, you three head on to your dorms.” He looked at Arisu, a uniform would be needed for him, and he was a man of his word; the dorm would be fixed up periodically – he was a busy man after all, fresh uniforms and clothes would be provided – Sam always has a good deal on those, and the fridge would be stocked – sort of, he didn’t know what this boy was allergic to; not that it mattered, they were like any respectable magic users and went for natural and organic stuff (with the exception of the occasional bag of potato chips, one can never deny the guilty pleasures of course.)

The small group left the office and made their way to the mirrors; Ace had decided he would let Arisu wash up at their dorm - Heartslabyul, just for tonight. Any punishment that would come with it he would take for the team; the group was in silence for a while before Arisu stopped and looked up at the others; he let a small grin when Ace turned and asked him what was up.

“You called me Arisu back there.” He noted.

Ace blinked confused; “Well…that’s your name, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but you were calling me Alice earlier.” He smiled, “Why the sudden change?”

Nope. Topic change. “Your world treats the Great Seven…well technically Six of the Seven as villains.” Ace pointed out. “That mentality is going to get you killed here.”

Deuce nodded in agreement; “He’s right… **Let me tell you something you can really trust, everybody’s got a wicked side.”** He laid a hand on Arisu’s shoulder. **“I know you think that you can never be like us, watch and learn so you can get it right.”**

He parted and joined with Ace before shuffling down the hall; **“You need to drag your feet; you need to nod your head.”** They did a little nod before sliding their feet. **“You need to lean back, slip through the cracks.”** They turned to face him. **“You need to not care.”**

Grim sat on Arisu’s shoulder, **“Uh, you need to not stare. You need a whole lot of help.”**

 **“You need to not be yourself.”** Ace pushed Arisu forward and linked arms with him; **“You wanna be cool? Let me show you how you don’t break the rules. We can show you how, and once you catch this feeling, and once you catch this feelin' you’ll be chillin’ chillin’, oh! Chillin like a villain!”**

Arisu laughed and moved out of his grasp; “Okay guys…I know you’re concerned for me but…turning me into a villain? Very unlikely.” 

“Rule one of the craft; a magician must always adapt to their surroundings.” Deuce reminded and linked his arms. “ **Your attention when you act like that, let us teach you how to disappear.”** He looked him over. **“You look like you would lose a fight to an alley cat, gotta be wrong to get it right ‘round here.”** He patted his back and pulled him into the Heartslabyul dorm mirror so they were one step closer to a quick shower and send Arisu back to Ramshackle without rising suspicion.

 **“You need to watch your back.”** Ace said in a low voice as he led the way. **“You need to creep around”** he pulled Arisu and Deuce into a nearby bush as a member from their dorm came to do last minute rounds of inspection – mostly to see if anyone was breaking curfew. **“You need to slide real smooth, don’t make a sound.”**

**“And if you care about your health.”** Grim poked Arisu’s face. **“Seriously, you need to not be yourself.”**

“Look I get it.” Arisu sighed. “I get you guys are looking after me, but it’s hard being what I’m not.” He whispered.

“Well, if you don’t, you’re going to get yourself killed.” Ace reminded.

 **“He’s right, you have to stay low-key.”** He patted his back. **“Come on, show us how bad you can be.”**

“Fine, I’ll humor you.” Arisu started mimicking their motions from earlier, dragging his feet and slouching. “Like this?” the trio silently cheered as they made their way inside, he grinned and gave a villainous smirk; “How’s this?” a thumbs up of approval. “I think I got it.”

Ace pounced and hugged him from behind; **“You wanna be cool? Let us show you how, you need to break the rules, I can show you how.”** Deuce leaned on his shoulder; **“And once you catch this feeling, and once you catch this feelin' you’ll be chillin’ chillin’, oh! Chillin’ like a villain!”**

The group came to the dorm showers and Ace shoved Arisu in; “Okay, hurry and wash up before we get in trouble, Alice.”

“Yeah, yeah, I hear ya.” Arisu laughed.

 *****  
It was kind of funny, Ace had showed up yesterday and was sorted into the same dorm as his brother was in; yeah, he got scolded by who he assumed was a dorm head and he dozed off during most of the ceremony, but he was bored. That was when he met Epel from Pomefiore, they actually snuck out during the sorting and they actually hung outside for a while; he was actually a quiet type and only spoke out when he wanted to; they learned a lot about each other – sort of; Ace was from the Rose Kingdom and he enjoyed cherry pie, Epel wouldn’t say where he was from but he believed his special skill was crafting apple shape and enjoyed Yakiniku. They had to hide shortly after, Riddle had come out looking for them. It was actually thrilling! When they came back inside and blended back in with the crowd; that was when he saw Arisu being led to the mirror and the Headmaster saying something about a missing student, and it was the first time Ace had to wonder about how reliable those Ebony Carriages were. Learning the name Arisu Shai got his attention, even more so when the mirror said he didn’t have a bit of magic in him, a mortal in a family of witches, was that even possible? And then there was that raccoon that nearly drowned the room in flames; talk about first impressions.

It was why he wanted to mess with them on Main Street, the raccoon and kid couldn’t be that hopeless could they? Well, fate like to prove him wrong; they were stuck as janitors and their knowledge of the Great Seven was…abysmal at best (fortunately, Arisu’s knowledge on Hades was on point). This kid wasn’t going to survive in the slightest bit in their world, not that it mattered to him…at first; honestly, he was actually glad Arisu was a janitor, the other students wouldn’t bother him. That all changed when that stupid cat started to shoot fire balls at him and that resulted in burning the statue of the Queen of Hearts! Augh, why couldn’t they take the blessing in disguise! The end result…well, that was one thing he was keeping out of his letters for home…the other blessing that came from all of this was that he had a newfound respect for Arisu and Grim (sort of, he’s still mad at that floating cat), Deuce made an okay friend and now? They were sneaking around Heartslabyul getting Arisu to wash off the ink from the weird monster they had to battle. 

Ace couldn’t help but let a grin grow, Arisu Shai, he was something else on another level; a magicless human in a family of witches, learning pyromancy from a demon cat, and will charge at a monster with a pickaxe. Just what was this kid’s deal? Well, there was a full year to find out and he actually felt his heart beat with excitement from thinking about it. He lifted his head when he saw Deuce returning with a set of clothes for him, that was another thing that’s been bothering him; when he was picked up by the Ebony Carriage, he had his belongings sent with the magic brooms that would move everything to the respective dorms…Arisu came here with nothing to his name. No wallet. No phone. Nothing…did something go wrong in the spell? 

Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked as Arisu came out wearing Deuce’s clothing – they were a little baggy on him, but they would have to do for the time being. He took him by the hand and quietly thanked Deuce before leading Arisu out of the Heartslabyul dorm and back to Ramshackle; the two shared a good-night and waved each other off, of course, he stayed to watch and make sure Yuu was settled before he returned back to his assigned dorm. Everyone’s had a long day and he was going to side with Grim in feeling hungry after that monster battle; he hadn’t had anything to eat since he got back, so he did what any normal person would, raid the fridge for something to eat before turning in for the night. 

He wasn’t expecting to find three whole tarts inside, that much was true; but in Ace’s book, he figured one wouldn’t be too noticeable, and if so, he could just explain his case. It wouldn’t warrant that much problem, right? 

Wrong.

“It’s so good!” He smiled. “Compliments to the chef!”

“Of course, it would be delicious. After all, anything that Trey makes is bound to be exquisite.” A cool voice said behind him.

Ace truly thought he was alone. “Nah, man this is something else! It’s better than the one at the shops…” It dawned on him and he turned to be face to face with the prefect. “Oh fuck.”

Riddle stood there with a cold expression on his face; this was how he was going to die. “Quite the boldness you have there for touching something that belongs to me.”

“Prefect, please…if you’ll just hear me out-”

“Queen of Hearts rule #89: _You shall not eat tarts prepared for the Queen ahead of her_.” He took his pen out and turned it into a scepter. “Larceny of the Queen’s tarts is a capital crime!”

**[Off with your head!]**

And right around his neck was a collar. Arisu wasn’t too far into dreamland, right? He was rooming with him tonight and from here on out!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Ace....how did that "You need to break the rules" working for you?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end of the prologue is here!
> 
> Now we can begin the fun classes and shenanigans

It wasn’t unusual for the Ebony Carriage to go ahead and pick-up students who might have hidden magic within them, it was surprisingly common and the Mirror would say ‘There’s hidden magic within this one’ before sorting them into a dorm that would help bring that out. But that wasn’t the case here, Arisu, though mortal mostly did have a spark inside him – heck, Idia can see a person’s shadow and he knew what Arisu would be capable of had the extended family not interfere. But no, the Mirror said that Arisu had no magic in him and this confused Idia to no end. What made matters worse was that the Headmaster wasn’t giving the boy room to explain, heck he found his mic had been cut when he was about to confirm the claim himself. Something was wrong here. And fortunately for him, there was a huge advantage of hiding in the shadows…what he did was always behind the headmaster’s back.

Idia knew he needed to call on all the powers of hell, and by that he meant he needed to get in contact with the faerie prince. Only how to do that.... he didn’t want to leave his dorm and Ortho was currently charging in the other room. So, what to do? 

"Shroud" Malleus said seemingly manifesting behind Idia and scaring the life out of him for a moment. 

"HOW'D YOU GET IN HERE?!" Idia shrieked, his hair turning orange with discomfort. 

"The door was unlocked and I needed to speak to you about a pressing matter" Malleus answered.

Returning to his calm blue color, he sighed and leaned back at his computer desk. “Take a seat, I was planning on how to contact you to discuss about something as well.”

Malleus moved the clothes off the other prefect’s bed and sat down, he huffed at the state of the place – it was worse than Arisu’s room when he was a child, but he wasn’t going to bring that up, this was neither the time nor the place. He looked Idia in the eyes and started off his side of things.

“Ignoring the fact, I wasn’t aware of the ceremony.” He watched him flinch. “Imagine my surprise when Lilia had told me about Arisu’s arrival here, now, my family and his parents have talked about sending him to a school like Night Raven and the Sunflower declined – he enjoyed the quiet life back at Sunnydale, we respected that.” His eyes narrowed. “Why did a carriage come for him?”

“Isn’t that the million-madol question.” Idia sighed. “It goes right up there along with ‘Why the Dark Mirror said Arisu was magicless.’” 

“We both know that’s a lie right there.” Malleus tapped the bed. “Lilia was about to say something at the ceremony but his throat closed up like someone poured hot iron down his mouth…he couldn’t tell Crowley or the Mirror of the boy’s potential.”

Idia winced at the image. “My mic was cut off as well before I could say anything, someone – and my money is on Crowley – doesn’t want us revealing anything about that human.” He picked up a pen and played with it in thought. “Which leads us here, where do we go from here?”

“We keep an eye on Arisu through any means.” Malleus said simply. “It should be easy, at least until we can get close enough to him without freaking him out – trust me when I say that when he’s under stress, rationality goes out the window. His mind will refuse to acknowledge us as friends and allies for some time, so it’s best not to go up to him and act on a familiar setting for the time being.”

That was how the meeting between them ended and how the start of the first night began; with the help of drones hiding in the shadows, Idia was able to see everything – and he had a giant cup filled with 5 Hour Energy mixed with Monster Energy to work with. The first night went without problems, he was able to see Arisu being messed with by the Ramshackle Dorm’s resident spooks and sent a copy to the family to get a good laugh out of it; Grim was trying to get Arisu to learn pyromancy and they even tried getting the Headmaster to let them become students because of how amazing they did at driving out the ghosts. Nope, they were stuck as janitors. It was a simple job that should have kept them from trouble but it seemed that trouble had ways of finding them when Ace came to the scene and instigated them into a fight; a hundred window cleaning as punishment. Idia wasn’t sure if he should be impressed with how lenient the punishment was or to facepalm that his mortal cousin got in trouble for something Grim had caused. There wasn’t enough coffee in the world to cure him of this headache. 

Since Arisu would be cleaning for the day, Idia went to his studies; classes were pleasant and he kept to the shadows like he always did. He kept his eyes on the teachers especially along with the students; the halls weren’t quiet about Arisu’s arrival and how the boy had some serious guts to make claims about being related to the Three Heads, the teachers were curious about him but that was as far into things he got from them. Word was still the same and nothing else was slipping into conversations, perhaps Arisu would be safe here after all? It was wishful thinking, a magic school did have its risks, there was always going to be someone who would abuse their powers. Perhaps if he was lucky, his mother would hear his prayers and his cousin won’t get into too much trouble.

It had to be Zeus who answered him, because trouble found his cousin yet again, this time in the form of a broken chandelier and an impossible quest. There was no way in hell he was going to sit back and let his cousin go alone; he sent the tablet to monitor him and the group he left with…what he saw made his heart sink; Arisu was almost killed by some ink creature. The group made it out alive with the stone and having ended the creature’s life, but that didn’t stop the nauseated feeling Idia had. 

Crowley thought he'd handled that situation pretty well; it had been easy enough to cut wire temporary on the undead heir's microphone. Silencing the ancient faerie had been less easy to accomplish, but he'd still managed. Now to hunker down in his office and think of a real solution... or that's what he would have done if there wasn’t already someone in his office chair. Sitting in his true form, fang exposed and long muscular limbs tensed for action was Lilia Vanrouge.

"Lilia what a surprise to see you in my office" Crowley said in a forced casual tone. 

"Cut the pleasantries Dire, you know why I'm here" the vampiric faerie said with a frown.

Dire sighed and made sure the door was closed and that there wasn’t anyone listening in. “I deeply apologize for the opening ceremony, but you must understand that I couldn’t have you two saying anything.” 

“Two minutes.” Lilia said. “Start talking and we’ll see what happens.”

“Assuming you’ve read the notes, I’m working on a …particular project, each attempt has failed and I’m certain Arisu’s arrival will be what we need.”

Lilia had a dark chuckle. “So, let me get this straight; you’re working on heaven knows what and your solution is to bring a Child of Light here, in a school of villains where he’s bound to be shredded alive, as well as silencing Idia and myself from speaking out to protect someone dear to us.” His eyes were glowing violently. “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND, DIRE CROWLEY!” his fangs grew a few inches and he was posed like a predator ready to tear a prey’s throat out.

That was the last thing Dire had witnessed before everything had went dark for him.  
 ****  
*  
“The shape of thy soul…Heartslabyul”

It was that sentence alone that started everything that happened so far in Night Raven College; Deuce knew Ace – sort of, he had seen him around Rose Kingdom a few times, he just never interacted with him until recently. A part of him had wondered is if you were from the kingdom in question you would automatically be sorted into Heartslabyul, the thought made him chuckle a little. Still, the first night at the school was something else; a boy came in claiming to be related to the Dalimar-Shai family and not having a lick of magic in him, the only difference was, unlike those who believed he made a false claim about who he was, Deuce actually believed him – heck, in the olden days, the clan would burn the tongue of liars, they don’t do that in today’s day and age because now they just curse the liar into silence if they don’t shape up. He wanted to go up and defend the boy, but that went out the window the second that strange grey cat started to show off his ability by torching the place. When all was said and over, he was led out of the mirror chamber with the rest of the Heartslabyul students and he didn’t really have time to go up to the Shai boy. 

The dorm itself reminded him of home and the welcoming dinner went without a problem. Still, his mind kept drifting to Arisu and the whole situation; it was weird, an Ebony Carriage would never pick up a magicless student out of the blue like that, unless he had hidden power – it was common in some families after all. But the poor boy actually looked out of place and kept looking to the rest of the students in a silent plea for help, there was a mistake here, he was sure of it. The next day and the first day of class, he had saw the same boy raking leaves and having the strange cat burn the pile shortly after, a few times he saw him in the library learning magic from said cat! He was able to breathe easier now that he knew the strange boy wouldn’t get into trouble. Wishful thinking, he was on his way back to the dorm when a commotion came from his dormmate and Arisu chasing after him with the strange cat, turned out the three of them were in trouble after burning a statue of the Great Seven. One thing led to another and he was on the risk of being expelled along with Ace and Arisu (even though the blonde wasn’t a student here).

Getting a magical stone from an empty mine wasn’t easy, especially when faced with a giant ink monster; his heart was still racing from that! Some good did come out of it, he actually found respect for Ace who saved Arisu from getting killed with a pickaxe as well as for the teamwork they had when taking it down and returning back to the school victorious (and no, Headmaster, he wasn’t ‘best friends’ with Ace just because they worked together. Of course, he would like it more if the trio did become the best of friends later on down the line). The return back brought another plan from Ace, he came up with the idea of negotiating with the headmaster for the stone in return for a few demands (“It worked for my brother and I, it’ll work here”) surprisingly, it did indeed work. Of course, when it came to calling the head of the Sennen Coven, Deuce couldn’t help but to feel uneasy; shouldn’t their headmaster have done that on the first night? Making a claim about the Three Heads was serious and action had to be taken immediately regardless of the time of day. 

Even as he laid in his room, his mind couldn’t stop replaying the events that had happened and transpired. His thoughts were interrupted when Ace came in and started grabbing a few clean uniforms, a blanket, and one of the pillows. He sat up on the bed and watched him in confusion, his roommate also had a strange collar on – same as the one that their prefect locked onto Grim at the entrance ceremony.

“Ace?”

“I’m rooming with Arisu.” Ace huffed.

Okay, weird? “Before you go and bother the poor boy, can I get your thoughts on something?” 

That got Ace to look over concerned, “What’s wrong?”

“Okay…how to word this.” Deuce laid a finger on his chin in thought. “Do you find everything that happened these two days weird?”

“Like…the carriage taking in Arisu?” Ace sat on the bed. “Okay, yeah it’s weird…but maybe the flicker of magic in him was just too small for the mirror to detect? I mean, it’s as Crowley said, the Ebony Carriage never makes a mistake like this.”

“I’m not too sure.” Deuce crossed his arms. “The cousin claim – though true, I feel like that’s raising red flags; shouldn’t the headmaster have called Lady Elaine or Lord Tori about this right after the ceremony?”

Ace fell silent, he didn’t have an answer for that. “Okay, point taken; where are you going with this?”

Now it was Deuce’s turn to be silent. “I…don’t know, I just find everything to be weird so far and…I guess I’m worried.”

“I get that.” Ace nodded. “I’m worried too, but there’s not much we can do…yeah some actions should have been taken sooner but right now, the most we can do is just be by his side and help him get through the school year. Once the year is over, the carriage will take us back to our homes and he’ll be back safe and sound!”

“You make it sound easy.” Deuce shook his head and sighed. “But I suppose even you have good ideas despite being a brash idiot.” He nudged him. “Anyway, it’s getting late, you should get going if you want to bother Arisu.”

If Ace had to be honest, he was just as worried about Arisu as Deuce was. The Headmaster should have called sooner, heck, Arisu should’ve been claimed by the clan sooner so he wouldn’t have been caught up in that death mission! Whatever, all that matters was just to get through the school year without any more incidents like that; that should be easy, they’re here to learn, it’s not like Arisu was a delinquent and would get detention on a daily bases so everything would be fine! 

Coming upon the Ramshackle dorm, he banged on the door a few times and sauntered in when invited him; loudly declaring he was going to be a member of this dorm for a while. It confused the poor blond and the floating tanuki, but he wasn’t going to pay any mind; he just flopped onto the couch and fluffed out his pillow before relaxing. 

Arisu just stared and cleared his throat; “Uh Ace…why are you here?” he asked

“My prefect decided to seal my magic, now hush, I’m trying to sleep.” He closed his eyes with a huff.

“You broke a dorm rule, didn’t you?” he crossed his arms. “What did you do, Ace?”

“I ate a tart.” Ace sighed. 

That made zero sense. “Okay Ace…it’s midnight and I am too tired to deal with this.” Arisu yawned. “You can tell Grim and I everything when we get up for breakfast tomorrow.”

Ace had a little grin on his face, he stood up from the couch. “You’re absolutely right, how is Alice supposed to go to Wonderland if he’s awake?”

“Ace, what the hell are you planning?” Arisu took a step back, he yelped in surprise as Ace picked him up and swung him over his shoulder. “Ace! Put me down this instance!”

“You know, you and my prefect are around the same height!” Ace laughed, “Come on, Alice we should get you to bed.” He carried him up the stairs.

“I’M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS FOR THIS!” Arisu cried out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mmm Mystery!


	5. Painting the Roses Red/Classes Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to listen to this song on a loop. You're welcome
> 
> Painting the Roses Red - Alice in Wonderland

_There was the scent of roses lingering in the air. Arisu found himself in a rose maze, he was wandering around lost and confused – wasn’t it supposed to be impossible to dream of a place or person you’ve never seen before? Was this even a dream? The scent was real and he could feel the petals brush against him, perhaps this was the famous astral projection people have talked about; the kind that could be achieved with enough practice and will power, but even if that were true; where was he? As he traveled through the rose maze, his ears picked up humming and singing – now, if he had his own playlist going, he would have believed he was waking up as his songs were blending into the dream world; but he didn’t have his I-pod so it was unlikely. Coming to a courtyard he watched as cards were by rose trees painting white roses red; it was here he was able to hear the song clearly._

_**“Painting the roses red, we’re painting the roses red. We dare not stop or waste a drop, so let the paint be spread; we’re painting the roses red, we’re painting the roses red!”** The cards went to the next tree and continued their little song; **“Oh, painting the roses red, and many a tear we shed.”** _

_The three held a wet rose close **“Because we know”** the two joined him and they leaned together. **“They'll cease to grow”** and the Ace joined. **“In fact, they'll soon be dead.”** They shared a brief sob before recovering; **“And yet we go ahead, painting the roses red!”**_

_Dream or not, Arisu had to admit he found this performance a little cute if only for a brief moment; why would they bother painting the roses if they know they’ll be dead soon after? It felt a little counterproductive and a pointless effort. He was about to get his answer when a girl with blond hair, blue eyes and…in a powdery blue dress and white apron came up to them._

_“Alice?” Arisu called out._

_Obviously, she didn’t answer him. **“Oh, pardon me, but Mister Three, why must you paint them red?”**_

_The three answered; “Well, the fact is, Miss, we planted the white roses by mistake and...”_

_**“The Queen she likes them red, if she saw white instead.”** They had a fearful look on their faces. **“She’d raise a fuss, and each of us, would quickly lose their head!”**_

Waking up to sunlight shining on his face, Arisu groaned and rubbed his eyes; what the hell kind of dream was that? He barely had time to think about it when Ace tackled him on the bed, hugging him and rolling off the bed so they were tangled up in the blankets. This was not the kind of wakeup call he was looking for, but Ace’s laugh was impossible to be mad at him – that and he was just too tired to even care at the moment. Once they were out of their blanket trap, they got up and went to get changed for their first day of classes (“Yesterday was just to let students find where they would be attending classes, nothing was official then.” Ace had to assure him.). Freshly changed into clean uniforms, Arisu went to get Grim and attach the magic gem around his neck that would essentially be his magic pen. The trio looked themselves over in approval before going to the lounge of the dorm where Deuce was waiting for them after letting himself in.

Ace waved at him and greeted him, Deuce did the same and even greeted Arisu and Grim. With the group together they started out onto Main Street where Ace was catching them up on the events of last night; Ace was feeling hungry that night and was looking for something to eat, he went for one of the tarts in the fridge where the Prefect latched the collar onto him. He did try to explain his case but was cut off abruptly as the collar was placed on him. Now, Ace had admitted he was in the wrong for taking something without permission and even planned to apologize after seeing Arisu’s scolding look earlier, but Riddle going far as to seal his magic like this was a bit too far. Deuce had spoken up about three students facing the same fate for not following wakeup routine. This was just…well as the famous meme would say “We don’t have time to unpack all of that”. Arisu offered that they still had time before classes start, maybe they could present Ace’s case to the prefect and get the collar off of him; there was some reluctance from Ace but he agreed as they went inside the school and to the mirror chamber where they would take the mirror to Heartslabyul. 

The dorm itself was just beautiful in the daytime, Arisu was able to see it in all its glory compared to last night; a lamppost baring the dorm name stood vigil on the right of the cobblestone path that led up to the dorm, which was lined on either side by potted rose plants which sat on short pedestals, alternating with taller rose tress shaped into hearts, all of which were adorned with beautiful red roses. The path itself split around a bubbling fountain and came back together in front of the dorm itself, creating a heart-shaped opening for the fountain. The Heartsabyul dorm, which looked more like a castle than a normal dorm from back home, loomed over the group, its walls a brilliant red, while the accents stood cream in contrast. Dark windows were constructed to look like the four suits: diamonds, spades, clubs, and hearts, ran the length of most of the walls. The most prominent windows were the large heart-shaped window on the bell-tower, decorated with cream filigree to mimic thorny vines. Below this window was the heart-shaped doorway that lead further into the dorm itself, purple walls and a giant floor to ceiling door with equally tall windows on either side visible from where they stood.

“Whoa! This is super fancy! It’s completely different from our dorm!” Grim was in awe

“Our dorm is still in development!” Arisu huffed. “Comparing’s gonna make me sad, so stop it.”

Grim sat on his shoulder. “Hey, Arisu.” He poked his chin. “You have to call your cousin so he can get us set up in something fancy like this! Everyone has to listen to the coven heir, so call him. Call him, call him now so we have a fancier dorm!”

“I can’t call him because the carriage apparently threw my cellphone out from my pocket.” Arisu huffed. 

“Oy tanuki, leave Alice alone.” Ace moved Grim off him. “Let’s see if we can’t find Riddle and get this damn collar off.”

The sound of someone whistling broke the silence, Arisu blinked…the tune was pretty familiar. He turned and led the way to the rose maze, following the whistling until he came across someone painting the white roses red. Painting the roses red…it was like his dream…except the person wasn’t a card at all. No, this was just a coincidence, dreams couldn’t predict events, could they? Returning to the present, Arisu took in the details of the student that was making his way over to them; the student had orange hair, the top portion tied back into a ponytail while the rest hangs straight. His eyes are green and under his left eye, he has a small red patch shaped like a diamond. It was almost laughable; Ace had a heart, Deuce had a spade, and now this person had a diamond. 

“Hm? Did you guys need something?” He asked

“Ah…sort of.” Ace answered. “Uh what are you doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m painting the roses red!” The student had a cheerful smile.

Both Ace and Deuce looked at other confused, Grim furrowed his brows confused and Arisu…stop that, he told himself, a dream was a dream!

“Hm~ Your reactions are so fresh it’s kinda cute!” the student laughed. “Now that I look at you closely, you guys are the freshies who totally wrecked the 10mil chandelier and caused a ruckus yesterday!”

“I get this odd feeling the school is never going to let that chandelier thing go until we graduate.” Ace grumbled, Arisu just nodded in silent agreement.

Ace should have kept his mouth shut, because the student was honed in on him now. “And you’re the super sinful kid who stole the Prefect’s tart!” He brought his phone out and grinned. “I’m so lucky to meet the rumored freshies so early in the morning! We have to take a pic together!” he didn’t give the group a chance to react, he just arranged the three and the cat before taking a group selfie with it. “Hey, can I upload this? I wanna put hashtags so tell me your names!”

“I’m Deuce Spade.” Deuce nodded to the group; “My friends; Ace, Grim, and Arisu.” He introduced.

“Arisu~ Ah the fabled mortal Shai!” Cater spun him around. “Falling into our school like Alice herself!”

“Hey! I already gave him the Alice nickname, call him something else!” Ace pulled Arisu back to the group.

“Fine, fine.” He typed away at his phone before smiling. “And uploaded! I’m Cater Diamond, a third year and that makes me your senior! Call me Cater-kun, okay? Cate’s fine too!”

Arisu pulled from Ace; “It’s nice to meet you, Cater.” He smiled a little. “You’re pretty easy-going for a senior.”

“And you’re well-rested for someone who can live in Ramshackle Dorm! I’m surprised you can live in a place like that, it’s so dark, and I feel like something’s going to pop out. I feel for ya, Ari~” and he was also rude as hell. “Ah! I shouldn’t be here standing and talking! The party’s the day after tomorrow and it’ll be off with my head if I’m light.” Cater’s green eyes lit up. “Hey freshies~ can you help me with painting the flowers?”

Ace muttered under his breath, Arisu could have sworn he heard ‘and he’s acting weird again’ before Ace finally spoke up; “Why’re you doing something so strange?”

“Well it’d be more photogenic if the roses were red for the party!” Cater sighed, “I’m really busy because I’m also in charge in coloring the flamingos for the croquet match.”

“Dear god, I really am Alice!” Arisu groaned. “The more I’m listening to this the further into Wonderland I’m getting myself into! Someone, please translate for me!”

Cater laughed and hugged Arisu; “You are just so adorable, Alice-chan! In a few days it’s the dorm’s legendary Unbirthday Party! It’s a tea party that our Prefect felt like doing, so he choses a day that doesn’t fall on anyone’s birthday.” He let go of him. “By the way, when _is_ your birthday, Alice? We need to know so we can plan ahead for the next one if you join us!”

“November 26th.” He replied.

“So, we have to be careful in our fall planning.” Cater nodded in understanding. “We’ll burn that bridge when we get there, right now!” he dragged Arisu to the roses, causing Ace, Grim, and Deuce to follow behind. “Since you’re in our little Wonderland you have to help me paint the roses!” he shoved a paintbrush into Arisu’s and Ace’s hand. “You two can’t use magic, so you have to paint them by hand!”

“Give me a super-soaker water gun and I’ll get these roses painted in no time.” Ace grumbled. “We’re not here to paint roses, we have something important to do!”

“Help paint the roses and I’ll see about helping you~” Cater chimed.

Traditional procrastinating senior, how original. With a shrug, the group ended up helping Cater paint the rest of the roses – it was actually fun, watching Grim and Deuce struggle with the color spell; both Arisu and Ace were laughing as they realized they had it easy with the paint. Even though, they were doing their senpai’s chores, it was still fun to do, a part of Arisu was wondering why he hadn’t done something so ridiculous sooner in his life (Heck, he was certain the magic side of the family could conjure something like this up). When all was said and done, the roses actually looked amazing, the shine they were giving from the paint almost made them glitter on the spot.

Of course, the moment of admiring their hard work was cut short when Cater had asked what he could do for the group and when it came to the reason; the cheerful demeanor dropped and the unexpected happened; the cheerful senior actually turned serious. Turned out the prefect wasn’t at the dorm and until Ace owned up to Riddle…he was to be escorted from the dorm. The only thing that was going through the group’s head was ‘what the fuck?’ they tried to battle Cater but…that proved to be fruitless and they were just escorted back to the mirror. They decided to say heck with it and just went to their classes; fortunately, Arisu was in the same year and class as his friends so it was easy to just follow them to his new classrooms.

*****

“I see you’re the fresh new faces who will be joining my class today.” Divus walked over and lifted a strand of Deuce’s hair. “Hm~ What an unusual hair color. Not bad at all, I say. Be careful not to take too long to finish, understood?” he accepted the unanimous ‘yes, sir’ “My name is Divus Crewel. You shall refer to me as Master Crewel, if you please. Come, take your seats. It’s time for class to begin.”

Did he just…no, Arisu had water in his ears from last night’s shower, he did _not_ hear his teacher say he would accept ‘Master’ as an appropriate greeting in class. The teacher’s appearance was a bit out of place for an alchemy teacher though; Divus' hair is parted at the side, with the longer section colored white and the shorter section black. He has narrow grey eyes and wears silver studs in his ears. Beneath a thick, black-and-white furry coat, Divus wears a tuxedo - consisting of a black dress shirt, red tie, and black-and-white vest. He also wears red gloves that held the teaching pointer with a red collar and jewel charm attached to the end of it.

Okay now he can see why Divus said to refer to him as “Master Crewel”.

His voice brought Arisu back to the now. “First off, a few disclaimers; I shall have your tiny brains remember hundreds of names of medicinal herbs and poisonous plants. And mushrooms are a whole different topic. I’ll have you remember them so that you don’t accidentally poison yourself if you eat some when you go for a walk.” Divus had a smirk on his face. “Dogs love to eat anything they see, after all.” His smirk vanished and a harsh look returned to him “I don’t want to see anyone getting a failing mark during the exam, so I shall be as strict as I can.”

“Alice, please tell me you’re good at memorizing things.” Ace whispered. “I’m going to flunk.”

Arisu had a grin; “Ace, I can go down a list of five flowers and their meanings without blinking.” He assured.

“Is that so?” Divus walked up. “Mr. Arisu Shai…” he drew out his name a bit. “Born into an esteemed coven, I expect high marks from you. But first, I wish to test that claim of yours; starting right now with Basil.”

“Good wishes.”

“Garlic.” 

“Courage and strength.”

“Heliotrope.”

“Eternal Love.”

“Hollyhock.”

“Ambition.”

Divus had a small smirk on his face. “Impressive.” He praised. “Final flower; Petunia.”

“Your presence sooths me.” Arisu started out. “But it also means resentment and anger.”

A soft chuckle. “I’m impressed, perhaps you’ll be one of my star students, now then…take some Sweet Woodruff and sit back at your desk, pup.”

History was right after that and Arisu felt himself losing more and more focus; it wasn’t that the subject was boring, he loved history, it was just the fact that their teacher decided to lecture on a topic he was all too familiar with. The Headless Horseman; he found himself trying not to nod off during the lecture which had proved to be an impossible feat. He decided that in order to save himself from a scolding for falling asleep in class he would rather focus on who the teacher was. Mozus Trein was strict and thorough; he never accepts late work and expects the best of his students. There was a soft side to him, on his desk was a picture of a red-haired girl dressed in a pink dress and wearing a flower in her hair – turned out he had a niece, she was rather cute if Arisu had to be honest with himself. Aside from her, Mr. Trein favored his familiar – there was a cat tree in the room where Lucius would hang out and watch the students; turned out the cat was smarter than he looked, anyone who tried to be discreet with their electronics would get a cat in their face.

There was one other rule in the classroom; as Mr. Trein would also teach the music class, if _anyone_ was caught with their music – even during study periods – the student would have to give a show of whatever song was playing. This wasn’t so bad as he assured them that it would count towards extra credit and to see where the student’s voice range was. Even though it was a sincere, Arisu was eternally grateful he was without his playlist, the last thing he wanted was to be performing Phantom of the Opera in front of his classmates. 

“Mr. Trappola.” Mr. Trein’s voice rang out. “Now that we have you back on earth with us, could you tell us where it is that the magician The Marquis de Hoto takes his apprentices and what kind of magician he is?”

Ace just paled; “Oh uh…” He looked to Arisu beside him in silent help. “He’s…a Treewalker?” Ace watched as his teacher nodded. “And he takes his apprentices to…”

Arisu mouthed the answer to him ‘Mousewood’

“Collinswood?” Ace answered, Arisu just slapped his forehead as the classroom snickered.

Mr. Trein was not amused; “Partially there, Mr. Trappola, I believe you meant to say Mousewood.” He turned to Arisu. “As for you, Mr. Shai, do refrain from giving your peers the correct answers.” He turned back to the bored. “Now then…”

In one ear and out the other, the bell chiming signaled the end and the group found themselves at gym with Mr. Ashton Vargas, he was that one gym teacher who got enthusiastic about his job and gave insane exercise regiments as well as putting a lot of importance into whatever activity was scheduled for the day. As of now, Arisu was running laps with Deuce and Ace, Grim had to run on his paws as the teacher called out no flying. He barely remembered anything from that class other than a relaxing shower afterwards, before long they were finally able to head to lunch for the day.

Everything was hurting; his pride, his head, and now his entire body was aching like no tomorrow. Arisu just sighed and went to the pasta dish before him; garlic parmesan, he sighed in bliss as he ate without a care in the world, he was too tired to deal with whatever squabble his friends were having with seniors over some food or another and he just wanted to enjoy his lunch in peace. That was short lived when a familiar cheerful voice called out to him.

“Ari-chan!” Cater hugged him from behind. “How are classes for you?”

Ace just stared at him; “Hey! You’re that guy who tricked us into painting the roses for you!”

“I didn’t trick you; you know~ It’s not like I wanted to do that either, I only did it ‘cause of the Dorm’s rules.” Cater grinned.

Deuce sighed. “You looked so happy about it though.”

“There, there, Deucey~” Cater patted his back. “The rules don’t matter outside the dorm, so Cate here is just your very gentle senior!”

“I am not awake for this.” Arisu groaned. “My brain is already fried from history.”

“Haha, I’m afraid that’s how Cater expresses his affection.” A new student walked up to them; green hair, gold eyes, and a club under his left eye. They had the full card set now. “Pleasure to meet you, my name is Trey Clover, I’m a third year alongside Cater and I’m the vice dorm head of Heartslabyul.” He looked at Arisu. “Ah, you’re from the old dorm, yes?”

“Sadly.” Arisu shoved more noodles into his mouth.

“Speaking of dorms!” Cater hugged him again. “Ari-chan, your big brother here will tell you and your friends everything!”

Ace pulled Arisu away from him. “Okay, tell us about our dorm; what the heck is with the rule number whatever of the Queen of Hearts?”

“I’m sure you’re all familiar with the legendary Queen of Hearts, right?” Trey adjusted his frames. “And Arisu, we did hear your realm’s version of her, don’t worry we’re not going to judge. Anyway, in order to establish absolute law and order, she made severe rules in order to oppress the eccentric citizens of Wonderland.”

Cater nodded. “And out of respect for the Queen of Hearts, our Heartslabyul dorm wear red and black in order to represent the dress she wore. And it’s part of our traditions to adhere to the Queen of Hearts’ rule.”

“Sounds like that should have been in the FAQ’s of the dorm pamphlets.” Arisu said in between bites. “I’m getting seconds, you boys behave.”

“Hey, what kind of places are the other dorms?” Grim asked.

“Let’s wait until Alice returns.” Ace said. “I’m sure he’d want to hear about them too.”

“Augh…fine.” Grim felt his ears flatten. He waited for what felt like hours (in reality, it had only been five minutes) before Arisu had returned with his food. “Okay, he’s back, now back to telling us about the other dorms already!” he demanded.

Trey chuckled; “I did say I would tell when Arisu returned.” He nodded; “Now then, this school has seven dorms that are dedicated to the Great Seven; starting with our dorm Heartslabyul that’s grounded on following the Queen of Hearts’ law with our entire being.”

Cater smiled and quick took a picture of Arisu’s chocolate strawberry brownie. “Then we have Savanaclaw that’s grounded on the fortitude of the King of Beasts.” He smiled at the blonde’s annoyed reaction. “I’m done Ari-chan, you can enjoy your food.”

“I’m close to taking that phone.” Arisu warned. “Octavinelle’s founded on the Sea Witch, am I correct?”

“The Sea Witch’s benevolence, yes.” Trey confirmed, he raised an eyebrow when Arisu scoffed at that. “Going to ignore that…Next we have Scarabia that was formed on the careful planning of the Sorcerer of the Desert.”

Cater smiled and brought up an image of the Pomefiore’s dorm; “Next we have a personal favorite of mine; Pomefiore, the house grounded on the magnanimous efforts of the Beautiful Queen~ It’s so beautiful, but that’s to be expected~”

“Then there’s Ignihyde.” Trey started, “Whose foundations lie on the perseverance of the God of the Underworld

“Ah! Arisu!” Grim pounced and sat on his shoulder. “That would have been your dorm if you had magic! Your uncle would have been so happy to hear about that~”

Arisu laughed a bit and nodded, “One; he’s not my uncle, and two; I highly doubt I would be sorted into Ignihyde, Grim.” He shoved a fork full of noodles in his mouth again. “What about the final dorm?”

The table grew cold. Cater took a breath and brought up a gothic castle image on his phone. “Diasomnia” he started out. “Founded on the gracefulness of the Queen of Thorns.”

“You mean Maleficent.”

Arisu’s seniors grew quiet, giving him a surprised look before turning their gaze to one another. The silence remained until Trey piped up in an attempt to break the awkward silence amongst them. “So... you know of her?” He asked, fixing his glasses.

Arisu nodded, swallowing his mouthful of noodles. “Well yeah, she’s pretty cool in my opinion. The stuff she does with the green flames...being able to turn into a dragon...pretty fancy if I do say so myself.” He answered.

“What’s with you?” Cater interjected, putting his phone down on the table. “You’re really going to talk about one of the Great Seven just like that? The Queen of Thorns is so much more than “cool” and “fancy”. You gotta show some respect for her, Arisu.”

Trey nodded in agreement. “Listen to me Arisu,” He began, with a stern look on his face. “Here’s some words of advice to you; next time someone talks to you about one of the Great Seven, it may not be a good idea to speak of them so casually. I’m sure you didn’t mean anything by it, though do keep in mind that talking about one of them the way you did might get you in trouble with certain people…”

“You should have heard what he said about the other members of the Great Seven.” Ace huffed.

That sparked the conversation between Ace and the two seniors. Arisu had set aside the now empty plate and listened as the group would converse about the first day before it delved into the seniors switching topics before someone else overheard and went after the strange mortal before them. Trey and Cater started to point out the students and which dorm they belonged to; each dorm had a unique personality to them and it took every bit of willpower to not laugh when Grim, Ace, and Deuce mistook one of the Pomefiore students as a pretty girl being in an all-boy’s school. When it got to talking about Ignihyde, Trey had made the remark that it was rare to see one of their reclusive students out and about compared to the Diasomnia students; in some way, they’re super popular and they had an aura that makes it hard for most students to approach them (not to mention their prefect is near impossible to get to). Looking over at the table in the corner; Arisu was able to see what the two meant, they looked like they were in their own little world. Though one thing stood out; the boy with the magenta tips that was sitting beside the silver-head and the green/blond boy, at first glance he looked like a child who skipped some grades…grade skipping was natural but…Looking back, Arisu blinked. Where did he go? He was just there at that table a second ago.

“Pray tell, are thou interested in mine dorm members?” The boy was hanging upside down over them., Arisu jumped and stared at him, the boy just chuckled. “It is true that I might resemble a sprightly and endearing young boy, however, your friend in the glasses is correct, I am a child no longer.”

“Sprightly…” Trey repeated the boy’s words.

“Prithee, why not approach us instead of simply watching from afar? Are we not comrades from the same school? We from Diasomnia will welcome you anytime.” Lilia turned to Arisu and his grin grew. “Ah! If it isn’t my darling sunflower!” he held his chin. “I thought I recognized you; those light freckles that grace your pale face, your honeyed eyes, how I’ve missed you so.”

Ace looked between them; “Arisu…you know him?”

“Of course, he knows me!” Lilia turned to Ace. “We used to play together in the gardens when he was a child, the games we would play.” 

Arisu laughed a little bit at that, “It’s wonderful to see you again, Lilia, how are things with Silver and Sebek?”

“They’re fine, child.” He smiled and looked to the group. “You’ve aligned yourself with the Cards, interesting friend choice for your first official day here in Night Raven.” He let go of Arisu and stood up. “I’ll leave you boys be, do keep in mind that if you ever wish to sit with us, our dorm will welcome you with open arms; after all, a friend of our darling Sunflower, is a friend of ours.” He patted Arisu’s head and made his way back to the table he was at earlier.

Ace stared in disbelief as he looked at Trey and Cater. “Are all members of Diasomnia like that?”

“Sort of.” Trey nodded. “Their Prefect, Malleus Draconia, is said to be one of the five greatest sorcerers of our world! He’s pretty dangerous…well our prefect’s dangerous too.”

Ace groaned, “You’re telling me! Eat one tart and you get a collar on you; he has to be the worst!”

“Hm? I’m the worse, you say?” A calm and cold voice asked.

Arisu paled, this was not going to end well. “Perhaps that’s not the right word, Ace.” He started out. “I think your prefect is just a bit…strict and harsh is all.” 

“Whatever.” Ace huffed; “He didn’t give me a chance to let me explain my actions!”

“And what would your explanation be?” The cold voice returned.

“That the reason I went after a tart was because I missed dinner.” Ace huffed. “And the reason I missed dinner was because I had to get a magic stone with my friends to save our place here in school, we wouldn’t have been in that mess had Grim not try to roast me alive and I was defending myself!”

“Typical reply from someone who was part of the ruckus yesterday.” 

“Oh, what exactly do you-” Ace felt his voice cut off. “P-Prefect!?” There stood Riddle before him, his cold gaze staring down at the group. The famous Red Queen of Heartslabyul, Riddle Rosehearts.

Alright, Arisu had to be honest here, he could see why Ace said he was relatively shorter than his prefect. He felt like he was looking at a red-haired version of himself but with a colder silver-eyed look. No, cold wouldn’t begin to describe the look in Riddle’s eyes, there was something there…what was it?

“Prefect Rosehearts.” Arisu greeted. 

He narrowed his eyes. “The Headmaster may have forgiven you, but the next time either of you break the rules, I won’t let you off so easily.” He snapped. “Tch. The Headmaster’s too soft. Letting someone off the hook for not following the rules once will break the foundation.”

Ace looked up at him; “Uh…is there a way to get this collar off?”

“I was thinking of removing it once you’ve repented, but judging from what you said a while ago, it seems like you’ve yet to do so.” Riddle crossed his arms. “Frankly, I should place the same collar on that misbehaving cat of Mr. Shai’s.” he ignored Grim’s cry of protest. “Now, if you’re done eating, hurry and go to your next class. Rule #271 of the Queen of Hearts: “You must not spend more than 15 minutes sitting at the table after you’ve eaten.” You know what happens when you break the rules, don’t you?”

There was a reluctant ‘Yes Prefect’ from Ace and Deuce. Arisu shook his head, he wasn’t going to argue that it was best to just finish eating and head out since they were in a prestigious school. Still, he couldn’t really shake the feeling he got when he looked at Riddle; there was something going on behind that cold façade but he couldn’t really place it. Without another word, he stood up and collected his bag and empty tray; telling his friends he would meet them in class. Entering the halls, he could hear the young prefect in question fretting about something, he blinked as he heard something else. It was official, he would have to hunt down Idia and ask for a refresh course on Soul Reading – probably the only rare ability that he has and the one lesson that he agreed to go through at his aunt’s request. 

*****  
There comes a point where Arisu had asked himself over and over ‘What the hell did I do to get roped into this?’ and right now this was that point in time. He was actually going to head to the library to study up on pyromancy as well as to see if he couldn’t track down Idia and ask him about some growing concerns; what happened instead was Ace pouncing him and dragging him and Grim to the greenhouse to get chestnuts for the apology tarts. He wanted to say no, but he had no reason to – and his feline friend was eager to make this tart as well, if it kept Grim out of trouble, he would go through with this.

The inside of the greenhouse was actually beautiful; so many plants he’s never seen before, various fruits and nuts that were just begging to be picked! He felt at home in a way, his mother did pride herself in her blueberry garden – and what luck, there were some right in front of him! Smiling, Arisu rushed over to them, he would catch up with Grim and the others at the chestnut trees in a little bit, right now he just wanted the sweet and bitter taste of those blue colored delights!

“Fuck-!”

Arisu stumbled and looked down. A tail? 

The owner of the tail got up from where he was and approached, “You’ve got some guts stepping on someone’s tail without apologizing.”

“Oh god…” Arisu covered his mouth. “I am so sorry; I wasn’t really paying attention to where I was going.”

“No shit.” The lion’s ears picked up a little and the annoyed look turned curious. “You’re the prey that the Mirror said couldn’t use magic.” He approached and started to sniff him. “You’re definitely mortal, but there’s something else…”

Arisu took a step back, “Well um…yeah, I got here by mistake and…I should get going-”

He grabbed the boy’s shirt and dug his claws into the uniform. “You think I’m going to let you off scot free after you stepped on the great Leona’s tail? I’m in a bad mood after being woken up from a good sleep, start gritting your teeth, prey.”

Arisu paled, dear god he was going to die! He sealed his eyes tight and braced himself for impact.

“Leona-san!” 

Saved by the bell? Arisu sighed in relief before crying out after Leona threw him on the ground. Not wanting to stay around, he got up and bolted to a safe distance, he turned back a bit and saw a hyena looking boy scolding the lion for something. He really didn’t want to stay around to find out and get his face rearranged. Instead, he just returned to the trees where the others were waiting for him; not wanting to alarm them, he just said he got turned around while looking for gloves and decided to come back here. 

“Curiouser and Curiouser, eh Alice?” Ace grinned, he laughed as Arisu nudged him. “Come on, we have chestnuts to pick!” 

“Yeah…I know.” Arisu sighed and put the gloves on. “So, this is how you’re going to get back into Heartslabyul?”

“That’s what Trey and Cater said!” he looked down at him. “Arisu, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” He insisted.

Deuce looked over; “That’s a lie, you had a pained look in your eyes when you saw our prefect.” He tossed a few chestnuts into a bucket. “Then you come running over here like the devil was chasing you.”

“Arisu, we’re friends.” Grim poked his nose. “Friends tell each other what’s wrong!”

“I know, I’m just trying to figure something out.” Arisu said. “As for me running, I pissed off a lion and barely made it out alive.”

“…What do you even say to that?” Ace looked at him. “Don’t answer that, let’s go back to Prefect Rosehearts, why did you look hurt when you saw him, did you two meet up in the past?”

Arisu shook his head. “No, it’s nothing like that.” He shrugged. “It’s hard to explain but…I saw an ice wall when I looked into his eyes.”

“Just leave it then.” Ace said simply. “Look, you’re a magic-less human, he’s a powerful prefect. He probably saw what you were trying to do and put a spell up to counter it. If he wants you to know something, he’d tell you himself, right?”

“I…guess?”

“So then just ignore it.”

That was horrible advice! Arisu couldn’t ignore the reading! He just ignored what Ace was saying from there on and just focused on collecting the chestnuts. When all was said and done, they headed off to the kitchen in the cafeteria – a slight concern from Arisu as most of the schools he went to never allowed students into the kitchen, it took him a while that the Magic Community worked differently than the mortal schools. The rest of his time was roasting and peeling the chestnuts while Ace and Deuce went off to the school store to get some extra ingredients from the school store. 

The chestnuts part of the job was actually relaxing in a strange sense of things; it helped kept his mind off the reading he tried on Riddle and it kept him from remembering the brief moment where a Lion was going to slaughter him in the greenhouse earlier at least. But he knew this good feeling had to end soon…he couldn’t ignore the warning signs. Idia was in Ignihyde, right? He had to be…his cousin was Hades’ son for crying out loud it wouldn’t make sense for him to be in any other dorm. His mind was made up, after he was done helping the boys with this, he was going to head there and talk to him about the uneasy reading – and maybe spend the night in a dorm that wasn’t haunted. Until then, he agreed to help the others out with the making of the Maron tart was actually fun; sure, he had to do most of it by hand like Ace, but aside from that it was fun. There was something about making homemade treats that just melted the cares away, it could be the sweet and warm smell of delicious pastries baking in the air that brought one to heaven, or it could be the anticipation of trying out the final product for the first time to outweigh everything else. 

With the tarts coming out of the oven the group had taken a slice small enough to go unnoticed but big enough for everyone to try a slice for themselves. It was heaven to the taste, Arisu felt himself melt after taking that one bite; even if this apology fails, he was pleased with the results.

“I take it you enjoy it.” Trey chuckled. “Arisu, what is your favorite food?”

Blinking, he looked to his senior, “Cinnamon rolls.”

Trey nodded and flicked his wand. “Okay, take another bite of the tart.”

Strange, but he wasn’t going to argue. To Arisu’s surprise, after taking a bite of the tart again, it tasted like a cinnamon roll! He looked up in astonishment and felt his jaw drop to the ground.

“Surprised? It’s my unique magic; Doodle Suit, I can change the taste of anything for a limited time.” Trey smiled.

Cater grinned at the group, “It actually overwrite things with what you imagine, it works with smell and colors too!” he patted Trey’s back. “Anyway, we’ll take the tarts back to the dorm and tomorrow we can give them to Riddle – we always have a pre-party, it’s basically the final setup then the real party happens.”

Arisu raised his hand slightly. “So…tomorrow is the pre-party and the day after is the actual party?”

“You got it!” Cater patted his head. “You take care of Acey now!”

“Deuce, you better go with.” Trey spoke up. “Something tells me, Arisu’s going to need the help.”

 *****  
Trey shook his head as he heard the student before him, Riddle appeared to have been in one of his moods when it came to rule 256 ‘One should not drink lemonade with honey when it’s past 8 in the evening’ – last year that rule was commonly broken among other minor rules that Riddle hardly batted an eyelash. This time it was different, Trey assured the student he would talk to Riddle and Cater went off to get some herbal tea made for the prefect in question.

Taking the cup from Cater, he made his way up the stairs and went straight to Riddle’s room. He walked in and set the tea on the desk beside Riddle. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Riddle looked up at him. “Students broke the rules, the usual.” 

“That’s not what I mean.” Trey said tapping the redhead's shoulder. "Come on you know you can tell me anything, if not as your vice-dorm head then as your best friend. I want to know what’s bugging you" he added before stepping back and folding his arms.

"I want to behead someone, not just collar them but full out behead them like the Queen of Hearts did" Riddle said avoiding eye-contact. 

"I'm sorry you want to do what?" Trey stared at him. “Riddle, why on earth would you want to do that?”

“Because Alice is here.” A familiar chilled voice called. Both students looked over and saw a familiar purple-haired boy on the bed and a lazy smile on his face. “Now that Alice is here, the Queen’s wrath has awoken.”

Trey raised an eyebrow at that, “Are you referring to Arisu, Che’nya.” The cat-boy just hummed and tilted his head to the side. “Riddle, he was trying to defuse the situation Mr. Trappola was about to cause, as far as I’m concerned, he’s actually a good hardworking student.”

"He's a trouble-making scoundrel who is trying to undermine everything that this dorm stands for. His presence disrespects me and in turn disrespects the spirit and tradition of Heartslaybul!" Riddle said with his eyebrows furrowed. "I'm going to wring that boy's neck myself if someone else doesn't beat me to it" the redhead snarled.

"Why don't we try talking to him calmly before we go to the neck-wringing route" Trey said uneasily. He hadn't seen Riddle this upset in... no he couldn’t think of a time he'd seen his friend look so murderous. It was making him fear for his life and he knew for certain that Riddle held no malice towards him.

Che’nya chuckled and grinned at them, “You’ll be seeing him tomorrow~ Though I have to wonder, will Alice need a vorpal blade for defense? Or will Alice leave the dorm with her head in place?” He stood up. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woodruff: Humility (Divus basically just told Arisu, take your bragging self back to your desk)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Few things: this WAS supposed to be longer but uh...got restless and I want to draw out the Heartslabyul chapters before we hit Feels Trip.
> 
> second: THANKS SYNK FOR HELPING ME WITH THE BEAUTIFUL HEARTSLABYUL UNIFORMS!

“It’s a curious situation to say the least.” Idia was at the computer with cupped noodles in his hand. “You said that you couldn’t read Prefect Rosehearts’ aura; what do you mean by that?” he asked as he drank the broth.

Arisu was playing with a stress-ball while Grim, Ace, and Deuce was running around and taking in everything Ignihyde had to offer with Ortho as their guide. He was trying to find a way to word how the aura read had went but nothing was coming to him at the moment; okay, no, that was a lie. He knew how to explain it, it was just a matter of describing it in a way that Idia could understand.

“Okay.” He sat up from his spot. “You know how when you read a person it’s like Fran Bow – you know with those shadows attached to a person?” he watched as his cousin nodded. “Well, when I read someone; I get a candle and a mirror; the candle tells me how strong a person is and the mirror shows me who they really are. When I read Prefect Rosehearts…I only got the candle, the mirror was coated in ice and he himself was behind a wall of ice.”

A soft hum was Idia’s reply as he tossed the empty cup away. “As Miss Alice would say ‘Curious’.” He leaned back into his chair. “Usually when a barrier is put up, there’s something the person doesn’t want anyone or anything to see.” He stretched. “Afraid I can’t help you, Ari, this is not my division.”

Arisu just stared in disbelief. “You see people’s shadows, how the hell can you not help me!”

“Because barriers extend to shadows; if I were to try and read someone like…Xehanort, his shadow would take on a form that wouldn’t be able to talk. Hell, Tori just confirmed to me that someone over in Paris had masked their color into something transparent so he couldn’t get an accurate read.” Idia sighed and took out something from his desk before handing it to him. “Also, here, it took Ortho a while to get this back from your world, I know how you are with your music.”

Music was the least of Arisu’s concerns, with a sigh he just took the I-pod and charger and pocketed them. There really wasn’t anything his cousin could do and he had hit a dead end; this was bad for a number a reason since an ice wall was fragile as heck, a single crack is all that’s needed to cause severe damage. He let his shoulders drop in defeat, was there any way he could get that barrier down before it got worse? 

Idia looked at him and held his shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze; his cousin usually found a way out of trouble – it was evident by their table top RPGs every holiday visit, and if Arisu could get out of a dungeon by sweet talking a guard, he could get around the ice barrier that Riddle had put up around his soul. With a silent nod, he just moved his cousin to the door; tomorrow was the Unbirthday Pre-Party and he was going to need the rest if Cater was going to show up to collect him and his wild friends – in all honesty, he just wanted Ace, Deuce, and Grim out of his dorm; he refused to be responsible for them.

Arisu smiled up at him and wished him a goodnight before escorting his group back to Ramshackle – much to the dismay of Ace and Deuce. They dragged themselves back to the dorm and…as Arisu’s bed was the only one that was prepared for anyone, the three just squished into it. It was uncomfortable fit, but they were still able to drift off to dreamland, where as before, Arisu was greeted to a strange dream.

_He found himself in the rose maze again, and like before he followed the sound of a march going on. It led him straight to the courtyard where the cards were painting the roses with Alice, except unlike before…there wasn’t a cheerful tune. Dread filled the air when he saw the Queen make her way over to the guards with a pissed off expression._

_Paling, Arisu rushed over just in time as the cards were either trying to throw the other under the bus or trying to plead their cases, but it was no use, the Queen had ordered for their exaction on the spot._

_“Please, it was a mistake!” Arisu cried and even tried to grab one of the cards. He just went through them like the ghost he was in the dream._

Come morning light, Arisu awoke to Ace and Deuce pulling him out of bed, he groaned and got dressed before making his way downstairs where they were greeted to a familiar red-head; Cater, he grinned at them and hugged them. With everyone together, Cater got his wand out and mentioned that because this was a grand event, they had to look the part; with a flick of his wrist, the clothing they wore were changed into the dorm uniform.

A white undershirt peeked out from under a black vest on Deuce and Trey, an argyle pattern with the suit icons embroidered in a light gray adorning it and four black buttons to keep it closed. The blazer everyone wore had a white base with four gold buttons, the collar being red on the right and black on the left, with the heart-shaped lapels in the opposite colors, all of which was edged in gold. Attached to the left red lapel was a white rose, the top of which was painted red that dripped toward the bottom to give it an unfinished look. Black and gold diagonally striped epaulettes held a gold rope that looped around the left shoulder. The left sleeve boasted a black and white diamond pattern while the right sleeve was solid black. On the left side of the blazer was a gold heart-shaped pin, the interior mother-of-pearl with the letters Q and H in gold script, a crown set on the Q. Below that was a playing card, which was different for each member of the house, and finally the dorm crest near the bottom hem. A black and gold striped sash wrapped around the waist and held by a large white button with a gold H imprinted and a red ribbon wrapped around it. The pants were white with a gold stripe down the outside leg seam and high-top tennis shoes in white with accents matching their vest color completed their uniform.

Looking themselves over; Ace, Deuce, and Arisu were laughing and were in total awe about what they were wearing – even Grim’s bow was white with a bit of red adorning it!

“This is totally stylish!” Ace cheered as he flared his blazer out.

“You look like carriage drivers!” Arisu laughed.

“But we look so cool!” Grim puffed his chest out. “We have to start our own Carriage business now! Queen’s Carriage is our name now!”

“You know back home we have Ubers and Minnie-Vans.” Arisu had a grin.

“You’re definitely fashionable~” Cater smiled. “And now for the wonderful Alice-chan!” he aimed his wand at Arisu before giving it a flick.

The blond watched as his clothes began to magically change. The dull, ragged clothing he had been wearing a moment earlier had transformed into a beautiful white and red dress that went down to his mid calves, the sleeves tight to his arms except where they proofed out at the shoulders, complete with a small cape, a ruffled neck scarf that matched the thigh high black boots over white tights. Golden embellishments adorned his dress, giving a more regal look to the garment. His blonde hair was neatly done in a bob cut, with a cute little rose clip to complete the look. Cater had taken a few pictures of Arisu, excitedly showing him how he looked from a different perspective. It wasn’t exactly something he was expecting, however it was a much more welcome change instead of the pajamas that Crowley had pawned off on him.

“Uh Cater?” Arisu started. “Why am I in this and not what Ace and Deuce are wearing?”

“Well obviously, what we’re wearing is our dorm’s uniform – you’re not really a member of Heartslabyul, but a substitute works just fine!” Cater grinned.

Deuce had a light pink on his face. “I think Arisu means ‘why is he in a dress’?”

“Why not?” Cater challenged. “Guys can wear dresses too, they’re called Queens.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Anway! Off to Heartslabyul to deliver the tarts and to get some last-minute painting in!” Cater took his hand and led the way into the mirror.

Unlike before, painting the roses today wasn’t as fun. Then again, unlike today, Arisu didn’t have a lot on his mind to distract him from the current activity. Of course, this round was a little exciting since Cater was able to clone himself – although, this did rub him the wrong way because, why trick them when he could have cloned himself instead! Despite the extra Caters running around, Arisu was still lost in his thoughts and Ace was the first to have noticed. After the roses were painted Ace had told the others he would catch up with them later when it came to bringing the tart out (“If the prefect asks why I’m not the one doing the apologizing, tell him I’m checking on a friend”), he had more important matters to worry about. 

Ace stood before Arisu with his arms crossed and a serious expression on his face. “Are you going to tell me what’s really bothering you?”

“It’s hard to explain.” Arisu sighed. “I’m…having dreams about the past – not my past but…”

He slowly nodded and took out a pocketbook from his uniform before flipping through it; “To dream of the past suggests that a current waking situation is paralleling a past situation. You need to learn from the past and not make the same mistake again. Alternatively, the dream may represent unresolved issues from the past. Or that you need to stop living in the past and look forward toward the future.” He shrugged and looked at him. “What sort of past events are you dreaming about?”

“The Queen of Hearts, I’m seeing her with Alice and the cards mostly…how the cards made a mistake and were executed for it.” He looked up at Ace. “Kind of like how you and the other Heartslabyul students make one small mistake and end up getting collared?”

“Guess I can see the similarities.” He put the book away. “So, we’re reliving the past but to a less extreme…we’ll figure something out to keep it from repeating completely.” Ace pulled him close and held him. “And I’m not going to let anything happen.” He pulled back. “Come on, I don’t want Prefect Rosehearts sending a search party after us.” He smiled and led Arisu back to the group.

They didn’t even make it through the gates, they just waited for the two to return. Upon questioning why, Cater merely shrugged and said that they weren’t going to do Ace’s apology for him, they were willing to wait until he returned with their ‘darling Ari-chan’. Arisu actually laughed and smiled at that, he assured them things were fine and that he was just having problems with a dream he had – Ace helped him out with a book he carried around, he had to be honest, he wasn’t expecting Ace to be into dreams (“Everyone has a hobby, Arisu”). 

Upon arriving at the sight of the party – that was mostly the seniors of the dorm; the pre-party was for the seniors to make sure that everything was in place for the actual party with the first years. Make sure the hedgehogs and flamingos were taken care of, the roses were painted and shining in the light, the tablecloth freshly pressed and cleaned, and made sure the treats made beforehand were at top quality (granted if Trey made them, they would be at high quality, but even still…it was tradition). The presence of three juniors walking in with a senior got the group to hone in on them, especially Riddle who narrowed his steel-grey eyes at the third student; Arisu Shai.

Trey noticed Riddle’s hard expression and just laid a hand on his shoulder. “Conversation first.” He reminded.

Riddle grit his teeth and folded his arms as he continued to scowl at the blonde. "It's against the rules for a member of another dorm to attend an unbirthday party without the formal consent of both dorms leaders" he snarled shaking Trey's hand off his shoulder. 

"Well technically Arisu isn't really a member of another dorm since Ramshackle doesn’t have status as an official dorm anymore. And even if it did still count, since Arisu is the only member that makes him the dorm head by default. If anyone asks, we can just say that as your vice-dorm head I acted temporarily in your place and invited him" Trey replied making Riddle hiss in annoyance at his flawless rebuttal.

Arisu lowered his head in respect to Riddle. “Prefect Rosehearts.” He greeted. “I’m glad to see you’re healthy, Trey had invited me because he was worried about you – and Cater-senpai had talked me into helping with tart delivery.”

Riddle scoffed a bit and looked him over, “You’re not even in appropriate attire; it isn’t remotely close to our dorm’s uniform, are you trying to make a mockery out of us with that?”

Cater spoke up. “Actually, I was the one who dressed him in that.” He cleared up. “Sorry about that, Prefect.”

The short fuse was getting shorter and shorter with each passing conversation, Arisu noticed and cleared his throat to calm him down. “Look…As I said, I was also here to help deliver some tarts.” He started off. “I’ll take my leave as soon as possible after.”

“Fine, make it quick.” Riddle snapped. “What tart did you bring anyway.”

“Monte Blanc.” Was the unanimous answer from the first years.

Riddle's mouth twitched into a deep frown as he slowly rose to his feet and threw the plate of tarts onto the ground. 

"How dare you bring Monte Blanc? Rule 562 of the Queen of Hearts clearly states that you shall not bring Monte Blanc to a unbirthday party" he snarled to the dismay of the three juniors before him. His gaze again zeroed in on Arisu and stomping over to where the blonde stood before promptly backhanding him so hard the first year almost fell from the force.

"You, you're the one who caused this mess! You're the one disrupting and corrupting my dorm's members with your idiocy" Riddle hissed gripping Arisu by the shoulders and shaking him like a ragdoll. Ace and Deuce stared in frozen horror at the sight of their friend being manhandled like a bag of potatoes before their brains kicked back into gear and they moved to intervene.

"Hey leave him alone it's not his fault! And how the hell do you expect anyone to remember all those stupid rules! There's no way anyone could remember all that junk!" Ace said grabbing Riddle's arm only to be punched in the nose by the second-year and forced to back away. 

For a moment Arisu locked eyes with Riddle and he was thrown into the redhead's soul room. Once again, he was face to face with the ice wall in the boy's mind only there was a blurry figure on the other side of the wall now. Arisu squinted at the figure and opened his mouth to speak only to shut it again when he realized that the figure was wielding a giant axe.

The figure pulled the axe back before swinging it down and against the wall with a loud crash as a huge crack formed on the ice. With another swing the ice wall was sure to break in two and Arisu would be up and close with an axe-wielding psycho. Fortunately, he was returned to his body as eye contact was broken and he was thrown out of the dorm along with Ace and Deuce.

Turned out there 810 rules. 810. Rules. And Trey only memorized up to 350…the long version short; escorted out and now trying to figure out what it is they needed to do. Arisu was playing with one of his pencils in thought; they tried to defy fate by standing up to the new Queen of Hearts, that resulted in just them as the rest of the subjects stayed back and were quiet…even Trey and Cater though they did try to help at first…they still followed the Queen of Hearts law. Defying fate didn’t work, what else could they do? 

“Ah~? What’s up with all of ya~? Wearing all those collars like that?”

“We’re not in the mood for-” Arisu turned to where the voice was and saw…just a floating head. “Guys-!”

The reception was a given, the small group had a heart attack while the head laughed. Coming into view and now with a full-body, they were able to see him completely; choppy purple hair with his bangs cut in a curve, purple cat ears, a white shirt and blue pants, and yellow eyes with slitted cat pupils.

“Who…are you?” Deuce asked

The cat bowed in greeting. “I’m Alchemi Alchemivich Pinkaa.” He stood and grinned at them. “But please, call me Che’nya.” He stood and tapped his chin. “I couldn’t help but overhear your little dilemma; Riddle’s been a little stickler for rules since he was little.” He chuckled.

“Do you know something about him?”

“I do and I don’t.” He shrugged. “Why? You four want to know about him?”

Ace narrowed his eyes. “Damn right we do! 

“Then…I’d ask the clubs; he’s known Riddle since they were children and if I were you, I’d go and ask him if I wanted to know more about the young prefect.” 

Arisu raised his eyebrow at that. “You seem to know more than what you’re letting on.”

Che’nya’s grin grew as he got right up into Arisu’s face. “If that’s what you think, then maybe that’s what it is~” he pulled away. “If you’re smart, Alice, I’d suggest you don’t return to the gardens again, not if you want to keep your head.”

Ace held Arisu close. “Is that a threat-!?”

“Me? Threaten dear Alice? I wouldn’t dream of it.” Che’nya tilted his head again. “I’m just warning you; the Queen’s wrath has been awoken and unless you’re armed with a vorpal blade, you won’t be living for long.” He ran a finger across his neck. “The next time the Queen calls for Alice’s head, it will be for real.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Third: I see Ace trying something new at least once. Dream meanings for example; he's seeing if he can't help people there.


	7. La Llorna/Fair Resistance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also look, I'm fixing my errors in previous chapters.
> 
> La Llorna - Coco
> 
> Edit: Changed the song and made this longer :D

If one were to ask Idia to describe Arisu in one sentence, he would tell you that the boy was the walking equivalent to a hellish streak of Nat 1’s and 20’s. After the encounter with Che’nya, Arisu actually stayed behind in the garden while his friend group went after Trey to get more information out of him about the tyrannical prefect; there was something he actually wanted to try before any of his friends decided to do something stupid and end up putting themselves at risk of detention or worse – he was not in the mood to go hunting for another magical stone to fix any damages like the last time. It took some time before Trey actually left the scene of the party for the trio to go after him and for Arisu to devise a plan to sneak back into the party and try to reach out to Riddle; he had a few ideas how to go about it and they all included showing a form of humility, the problem he was facing was when he should go in that wouldn’t cause suspicion – especially since Riddle had ordered Cater to create his clones to make sure the small group stayed out until they were ready to own up. And knowing Cater, he probably wouldn’t let him in that easy or so soon. 

Well, guess he was just going to hang by the mirror until he thought of something.

His friends were having better luck interrogating Trey. They had learned about Riddle’s upbringing being because of extremely harsh parents – he believed that being harsh would benefit everyone, help make others grow, and by allowing rules to be broken it would be as if he was denying everything that he was made to be. Well, that was part of the reason; no-one ever chooses who their parents are…but with Trey having been Riddle’s childhood friend, he could have done something to keep Riddle from becoming more and more like his parents; enabling and just feeling sorry was going to get people to resent the young Prefect.

Their heated conversation caught the attention of the Headmaster who claimed to have been there to research something – and definitely not because he wanted to read a latest addition to a novel. Right. Well, in the end the headmaster had given some sound advice; either Ace transfer dormitories or challenging the prefect to a duel and take the title of Prefect for himself. Ace had no problems agreeing to it and even agreed to team up with Deuce for the duel. 

“Hey! When you guys become prefects, you’ll let Arisu and I stay at the dorm right?” Grim asked. “We can move into someplace fancier!”

Ace narrowed his eyes; he was putting a tack in that for later. “Right…I’ll see what I can do when we win.” He assured. “I mean, I don’t entirely feel like having Riddle and Arisu in the same building is a good idea – you saw what happened earlier.”

Grim’s ears flattened at that, “Arisu didn’t do anything wrong…why did your prefect attack him like that?”

“What did that weird kid say? The Queen’s Wrath has been awoken?” Deuce spoke up. “Maybe it has something to do with that?”

“Whatever it is, we’ll focus on that after the duel.” Ace snapped. “Going to punch that bastard for hurting Ari…”

Returning to the dorm, Arisu walked up and explained the situation to them; he couldn’t think of a way to get in without raising suspicion, at least not in a way that would have Riddle coming after him with some form of blade or another. Ace had suggested they’d forgo the sneaking in and just go for the direct approach and even mentioning he was going to challenge Riddle for the right of prefect – that earned a smack upside the head. Before returning to the garden, Deuce gave Arisu the quick rundown of what Trey had told them; it physically hurt just hearing the type of upbringing he had, and getting through to Riddle before Ace and Deuce decided to try their inane plan was a lot easier said than done. He didn’t want to put that worry on the backburner, but there wasn’t much he could do, he had to go in with a clear head and not be distracted for the aura spell to work. Plan here sounded simple enough; go in get into the soul room, and…pray he get the information he needed before he died.

Despite walking in with an air of confidence, Riddle was honed in on Arisu like a hawk. To say that he was impressed was an understatement; Ace had made a point of the group not giving their apologies and this magic-less mortal approaching him in a casual manner was a sight indeed. He couldn’t really help but to smirk as he was curious what this boy had to say to him – if he was going to plead on Ace’s behalf, he had a better chance talking to the Hatter back home. Once Arisu got close to the table he was seated at, the two stayed in silence for a while, neither saying a word and challenging the other to speak first.

It was Arisu who finally broke the silence. “Prefect Rosehearts, on behalf of the others; I’d like to give my most sincere apologies. You were right about me…disrupting the ways of the Queen and straying your students and in hindsight despite not being a part of your dorm I should at least learn the laws set by the Queen of Hearts herself.” He curtsied before him. “I don’t expect you to forgive me, sir, but please at least give Ace and Deuce a second chance.”

Riddle stayed silent for a bit before standing up, the partygoers went stiff and quiet as they watched him approach the boy, they relaxed when Riddle had lifted Arisu’s face so they were eye to eye, his gloved hand gently rubbing the spot where he had slapped him earlier.

“Humility is a virtue one that not a lot of people possess.” Riddle mused. “I’ll forgive you and give you a second chance here; on a few conditions.” He smirked. “First is be mindful who you align yourself with, it would look bad if you shamed your family by being around unruly characters like Ace.” His expression turned serious. “Second, a common whelp like you should be talented in something; entertain us and we’ll see what happens then.”

The opening he needed; Arisu kept the calm expression on his face as he nodded. “I used to play guitar, but I can do Acapella renditions.” He looked Riddle in the eyes. “I just want to make sure there’s no miscommunication here; I’m free to sing any song of my choosing?”

“Within reasons.” Riddle said sharply. “I’d rather you spare us from listening to you sing anything explicit.”

“Don’t worry, that would be the last thing I would choose for an occasion like this.” Arisu assured.

Intent was key in any spell, that was the lesson Arisu had drilled in his head growing up – heck, even the teachers here would drill that into his head. And even though he wasn’t magical in traditional terms, he still knew that magic or no magic intent was important for whatever the reason; song, dance, story, if the intent wasn’t there it wouldn’t hold. And he had the perfect intent in mind; he was going to get Riddle to come out of hiding from that ice barrier he keeps himself surrounded in.

Before he could begin to perform, a senior had come up to him and gave him a guitar. Arisu thanked him and began to play a few chords as he began to sing; **“Ay de mí, Llorona; Llorona de azul celeste. Ay de mí, Llorona; Llorona de azul celeste.”** He moved back to put some distance between him and Riddle to give more of a show as well as to keep the prefect from pouncing at him if he made a wrong move again. **“Y aunque la vida me cueste, Llorona No dejaré de quererte…No dejaré de quererte!”** He picked up the tempo and began to dance in place as he kept with the rhythm and making sure his gaze stayed locked onto Riddle. The redhead wasn’t budging from his place, and the figure with the axe was still there – though tamed and watching intently, ready to strike at any given moment. **“Me subí al pino más alto, Llorona; A ver si te divisaba. Me subí al pino más alto, Llorona; A ver si te divisaba. Como el pino era tierno, Llorona; Al verme llorar, lloraba. Como el pino era tierno, Llorona;** **Al verme llorar, lloraba!”**

“Enough.” Riddle called out to him, ending the song abruptly. “Word to the wise; make sure your spell-casting isn’t obvious.” he narrowed his eyes at him; “Just what were you aiming to do, Shai.”

“What makes you say I was trying to do anything?” Arisu challenged.

Riddle strode over and grabbed his face in a harsh grip. “I know when someone is casting a spell, whelp.” He growled out. “Not to mention you wouldn’t take your eyes off min, you were trying something that needed direct eye contact. Now talk.” 

“You’re starting to worry me greatly, Prefect!” Arisu cried out. “There’s something going on behind your eyes and it’s deeply concerning!”

Riddle harshly threw him to the ground, staring down at him with a sneer before pressing his boot down on Arisu's chest; “Listen closely, whatever is going on in my life is none of your business and you have no right in poking around in areas you shouldn’t be! You are not even worthy to be the ground that I stand upon" the redhead accented his words by twisting his foot so that the stiletto heel of his boot dug into the other boy's body like a blunted knife "I should very much have your head on a silver platter for this!” He removed his foot and backed off. “Get out of my sight, this is your one and only warning that if I see you again, I will take an axe to that thickheaded skull of yours.”

That was enough. Ace walked over and picked Arisu up off the ground before moving him behind. “Stand back, Deuce and I are going to take over.” He watched as Arisu backed down; “Riddle, we’re challenging you for the title of Prefect!”

The garden went silent. There was no way that a couple of first-year students were serious about challenging Riddle to a duel. The silence was broken by laughter; Riddle cleared his throat and looked at the two with a smug look on his face.

“Oh, you two were serious? I’d laugh harder if I could.”

“We wouldn’t joke about this.” Deuce said.

Riddle shook his head; “Your funeral, but I’m feeling nice today.” He snapped his fingers to let the two be freed of the collar. “I’ll give you today to prepare yourself and tomorrow we’ll have our duel.”

That was how the first day of the party ended. Ace and Deuce were at the Ramshackle dorm training with the ghosts in order to prepare themselves for the duel, they had thought of some combo attacks and even put those into practice to see what would stick and what wouldn’t. As they were doing this, Arisu was laying back on the couch and dozing off to the music that was playing on his playlist at the time being; there was something deep inside him that was screaming at him about the upcoming duel the next day, and though he wanted to end the duel before it even started…there really wasn’t much he could do in regards of this. For one; all he had was an invasive soul spell and he wouldn’t be able to challenge Riddle as he wasn’t even a part of the dorm, he would be stuck on the sidelines.

With the day passing and his two friends were outside practicing with the ghosts, the clock chimed nine and the group had last minute dinner – apparently the cafeteria ghosts delivered pizza? No, Arisu wasn’t going to question it, he gave up on that the moment he moved into Ramshackle the very first night – and it wasn’t even that long ago. After having food and Arisu’s guidance to their rooms; the group managed to clear off another bed so they weren’t squished together on a singular bed anymore. Arisu wished Ace and Deuce a good night before going to his room and drifting off to sleep.

_The rule of three suggests that a trio of events is more humorous, satisfying, or effective than other numbers. First two dreams were painting the roses and the aftermath of the Queen of Hearts outright executing the cards because they were trying to fix a small mistake. In some way, that mirrored the students of Heartslabyul who got collared because of small mistakes; tough love was needed in some cases, sure, but…it was more of the tough than anything else._

_And now tonight, he found himself in a courtroom as an audience member. He looked down at the sight before him and recognized the trial scene; this was where Alice was telling the Queen off! He felt his heart stop in his chest as he watched her go off on the Queen; calling her a tyrant who does what she wants – the Cheshire Cat was of no help, but then again, when was that cat any good (except in Madness Returns where he just gave harsh advice). The verdict was final with the Queen shouting her famous line and the Cards were cheering._

_“What the hell is wrong with all of you!” Arisu demanded. “She’s right, the Queen of Hearts is a tyrant!”_

_Why didn’t anyone stop her before she got this bad? He understood that order had to be maintained but there were most certainly other ways to maintain order without going around mindlessly executing people for one small thing or another._

“Arisu.” Ace shook his shoulder. “Come on, wake up.”

Arisu groaned and threw his covers over his head. “Five more minutes, Ace…”

“What five minutes? You slept through the entire morning!” 

What! That got Arisu up and rushing to get dressed; “What the hell, why didn’t anyone wake me up sooner?!”

“We tried, even the ghosts had a hard time waking you up.” Ace took Arisu’s shoulders and made him turn around so they were eye to eye. “Arisu, what’s wrong?”

“No…it’s…I had another Alice dream.” He sighed.

Ace sighed and laid a hand on his chin, “Okay…we’re still repeating the past if this is how things look.” He hummed. “Maybe the duel is what we need, I mean the whole mess started because nobody would stand up for themselves right?”

“Yeah, it worked _so well_ for Alice.” Arisu snapped.

“She escaped with her head.” He reminded. “We keep fighting back and everything will turn out fine in the end.”

Why did it sounded easier said than done? With a sigh, Arisu got dressed into a T-shirt and jeans today, it wasn’t anything special – he was going to smack whoever thought it was a good idea to give him a pink sparkling turtle printed shirt. Wait, would that cause for grounds of expulsion if he slapped the headmaster? Probably. The rule of three; he overslept, and now all he had that was clean was this turtle shirt…the duel was going to flop. With a sigh, he followed Deuce, Ace, and Grim to the Heartslabyul dormitory; each step closer to the garden felt like another step closer to the chopping block.

Just give up. That’s what Riddle wanted to tell them the most as Ace and Deuce stood before him; he didn’t think they were serious when they challenged him and he thought they’d rather hide out at the old dorm their mortal friend resided. They had guts; he will give them that, what he’s not going to let slide is the fact they were only thirty minutes before teatime. He shrugged; it won’t take him that long to defeat them in time. He just took his place in the garden and held his scepter in hand; the two first-years did the same and got into stance – weak, one strong wind spell would be enough to send them flying; they’re not remotely serious about this duel at all.

The moment the headmaster threw the hand mirror was when it began. The bold and reckless flare from the fire and wind spells joining as a fire tornado just made the prefect take a calm step to the side and let the blast hit the hedge behind him. Those two better pray a rose bush wasn’t hit. Narrowing his eyes, he flicked his wrist and summoned rose vines from under the duo and sent them flying only to have them crash land on their backs – Arisu may not be a medical professional, but he was pretty certain he heard something break, if not then those two must have insane luck. 

And insane luck they had, Ace and Deuce got up on shaky legs and shook off the impact – they did wince with each movement though, that…had to be sign to call it quits right? Wrong. Combining wind and one of Deuce’s cauldrons they tried another launch attack, another swift dodge from Riddle before shooting vines at the two; striking Ace in the face. The first year ended up with a bloody nose after that attack. With Riddle focused on Ace, Deuce decided to come in hot with a water-based spell, a tidal wave spell to knock the prefect on his back. Child’s play. Riddle smirked and froze the wave in place by turning it into ice, if he was feeling merciless, he would have sent the ice back to the first year, but he was feeling kind and just shattered it.

“As much fun as this is, we’re going to have to end the duel here.” Riddle smirked and aimed his scepter at the two **“[Off with your heads!]”** he shouted

“Are you being serious right now?!” Ace demanded as he tugged on the collar around his neck.

Deuce was more taken by surprised than anything. “We couldn’t even do anything!” 

It was almost as if Riddle just treated it as a sick dance recital. Arisu just felt his jaw hanging as Grim was trying to make sense of what had just happened. Each dodge was swift and his spellcasting was fluid, the duel was just child’s play to him! The Headmaster wasn’t hardly phased, he praised Riddle’s ability (wasn’t he also the one who told Ace to challenge the young prefect? Why would he suggest such an inane idea when he knew the results were going to end this way?)

Riddle scoffed. “I’m surprised that you went and challenged me with your skill level, aren’t you the least bit embarrassed?” he shook his head in disappointment “I knew it. Anyone who breaks the rules will always amount to nothing. It is as Mother said.”

“That’s enough.” Arisu walked over and got between him and the challengers. “Prefect Rosehearts, I respect your position of dorm master, but there comes a point where it gets too much. I know you’re upholding the traditions set by the Queen of Hearts, however, even you have to admit there’s some rules that are far too ridiculous to follow!”

“No one will follow rules that are lenient! What sort of lessons have you been given that you can’t even understand something so simple as this? You’re from a prominent coven!” He crossed his arms. “Oh…wait…I forgot, you were born from parents who can’t even use magic, I’m sure that you didn’t receive a decent education before you stepped foot into this school. How pathetic, truly pathetic.”

"If you're looking for something pathetic you might want to try looking in a mirror, Prefect Rosehearts. You play at being a just king but you're nothing more than an angry toddler throwing a fit cause he didn't get his way" Arisu said with a hand pressed to his chest to stem the bleeding from the puncture wound Riddle's heel had left in its wake. "You are not worthy of the crown you wear, so called Red Ruler... when in truth you are nothing more than a Crimson Tyrant!" the blonde said his other hand darting out and snatching the tiny crown perched precariously on Riddle's head off before chucking away over the nearby hedges into the heart of the rose garden. 

Riddle's cheeks were almost the same color as his hair now as he stared mouth agape in the direction that his crown had been flung before slowly turning back to glare at Arisu with murderous intent. "How dare you... HOW DARE YOU TOUCH ME SO CAUSALLY YOU INSIGNIFICANT WHELP?!" Riddle shrieked his hand pulled back to strike the blonde who had the sense to take a few steps back before rebutting the redhead's words. 

"If I'm so insignificant why is your face so red? I'd thought it'd take a bit more than just removing your crown to reveal your true colors Prefect Rosehearts" Arisu said not caring that he was no longer deescalating the situation, he had been holding back his thoughts about the prefect for days and it was all coming out now whether he liked it or not.

Riddle poised himself for attack and Arisu closed his eyes readying himself for the strike; the strike did happen but not in the way anyone was expecting; opening his eyes, he saw Ace standing there in front of Riddle; fire was in his crimson eyes as he stared at the prefect holding his face. The garden was deathly silent; Ace had just punched their prefect in the face – hopefully it wasn’t too bad of a punch. Arisu took a step toward his friend and reached for his shoulder, to which Ace shrugged him off and silently telling him to back away.

“Don’t ever insult Arisu or his family in front of me ever again.” Ace said in a deadly tone. “I don’t care about this duel anymore, I’m sick of you.” He kept his gaze on him. “You had terrible parents that were horrible to you and treated you nothing but a trophy, but you know god damn well where a line has to be drawn! You’re just as horrible as they are to your own dorm mates!”

A domino effect was triggered; Ace’s outburst got a good number of the Heartslabyul students to stand up against their dorm head, that in turn got Riddle to lose it completely and decapitate any and all who opposed him – heck somewhere along the line the young prefect lost himself and the rose trees were floating; he actively tried to skewer Ace on the spot! And he would have succeeded had it not been for Trey’s unique magic changing the spells for a short amount of time; this is what people would call ‘too close for comfort.’ And…things were just going from bad to worse from here. A dark aura was surrounding Riddle – no…that’s not completely right; before everyone was Riddle but he was wearing a tattered red and black dress, a laced veil was covering his right eye that was glowing red, white roses on the dress were stained with ink, ink even covered his arms and a black crown rested on his head.

“Ah~ How could this happen?! How could I let a student go into Overblot while I’m here?!” Crowley was holding onto his chest.

“I’m sorry, did you say Overblot?” Arisu choked out.

Ace looked at Arisu concerned; “I’m afraid to ask but…”

“Ace…we’ll talk later, right now…if Riddle stays like this he could die.” Arisu looked at him.

“You are going to have to fight him.” Crowley warned. “It’ll be dangerous.”

“It’ll be a risk we have to take.” 

“Very well, I’ll evacuate the other students…please be careful.” Crowley turned and led the students to safety.

Famous last words ever heard, Arisu was behind Ace and Deuce once more; Grim was on the front lines with Trey, Cater, and their two friends. This wasn’t going to be an easy fight, but they had no other choice in the matter.

 *****  
There were two things one had to keep in mind when fighting someone who Overblots; one is that the victim will never remember this and when they do, they’re going to get hit with a wave of guilt, the second is that you also had to fight for your own life as well as the victim’s. The game was weakening the victim enough to get them to come around by any means and it wasn’t an easy one. The four ‘cards’ were casting what they know while also doing their best to take cover and dodge Riddle’s attacks – which usually was in the form of a tree coming down on them, as for Arisu…given he didn’t have much magic in him, he was looking around the abandoned party trying to find something to use as defense and as a weapon against Riddle. The problem with that, anything that could be used wouldn’t do much good; silver tray, teapot, he had some doubt he’d find a croquet mallet nearby since the ones they use here are flamingos (and he wasn’t about to start using a bird to knock sense into someone). 

A gentle tap came to his shoulder, he turned around and say Che’nya standing behind him and holding out a metal baseball bat. “Your school store had this on sale.” He grinned. “It’s no vorpal blade, but it’s ready for service.”

Arisu took it and sighed, it was a crude method, but there wasn’t really time to be a beggar in this case. He returned to his friends’ side and stayed a way back to assess the situation; Riddle was focused on the ‘cards’ with his attacks - well, he was actually going after Trey more than the others. There was no rest coming from him, he was just using spells after spell without rest, this was bad on so many levels; his friends couldn’t stand against Riddle forever like this. He knew there were words between the two being exchanged but…the only thing he could really hear was his heart throbbing; he kept trying to calm himself down, Riddle had to have some kind of weakness…if he could find the weak point and get to it the young prefect will be saved and…they’ll figure out the next obstacle later.

Being caught up in analyzing the opponent, he had failed to realize another attack was being made and the target was him. Arisu gasped out as he felt himself being lifted in the air by vines and yanked towards Riddle. He was now faced to face with the crazed prefect, golden eyes were meeting with the one glowing red eye and one grey eye and his face was being held harshly by the inky grip that he had. 

**“MaGicLesS mOrTaLs ArE bLaNk SlAtEs! I’lL pRoVe To YoU tHaT tHe QuEeN’s WaY iS tHe RiGhT wAy!”**

As a great duo that once fought the devil in a rock-off would say; “Fuck!” This was bad on so many levels, was Riddle seriously about to use him against his friends like this?! No…No Riddle himself wouldn’t do this, he really had to get through to him somehow! He struggled in the vines that tightened their hold on him, bruising his arms and legs in the process and searched his head through anything he could use to reach to him. Please, don’t do this, I know you’re in there!

“Prefect Rosehearts, there’s no need to go through the extremes!” Arisu pleaded. “Just put me down and we can talk!” he gasped out when he felt Riddle’s nails dig into his face.

**“I aM tHe RuLeS hErE! i’M aLwAyS rIgHt AnD i HaVe YoU tO sHoW fOr It, AlICE!**

“The rules aren’t always right!”

Silence. That was never good. Riddle removed his hands from Arisu’s face and dropped him on the ground, in any other case someone might take it as a blessing but just as he had dropped him, a new vine came and wrapped around the boy’s neck before pulling him up. Arisu gasped out and grabbed the vines and tried to get the pressure off him, it wasn’t a traditional noose that would be properly tied so he was stuck writhing in the air trying to breathe and stay conscious. Unfortunately, his efforts where in vain as another vine came and wrapped around his wrists, pulling his hands up above his head while two more vines wrapped around his ankles, spreading his legs.

**“TrAiToR! ALl Of YoU aRe TrAiToRs To tHe QuEeN!”**

Arisu let out a small choked sound of protest at this making Riddle abruptly pause in his angry rant to gaze down at him. The redhead was silent for a long moment as he inspected the other boy whose lips were beginning to turn blue from oxygen deprivation. He leaned in, giving a hum of appreciation at what he saw and licking his own lips as he continued to stare at his prize. The vine around the first year's neck loosened ever so slightly, just enough to allow air. Arisu could hardly see much; his vision would shift between the rose garden with Riddle's lecherous face almost pressed against his and…a ferry and a man staring down at him. It would repeat like this a few times before he just saw nothing but darkness. He wasn’t sure when it happened but he found himself waking up with Cater above him; he winced and tried to sit up, everything was hurting so much – he was going to feel the bruises on his limbs for a while. 

Cater helped him up, “Are you alright, Arisu?” 

“I saw Charon.” He coughed. “How the hell do you think I feel?”

“Fair point.” Cater turned to the fight. “Going head on isn’t getting us anywhere, any ideas?”

Arisu shook his head. “I just know he has to have some form of weakness but…It’s not going to do us any good if we can’t even get close enough.”

“The only things I can see are the crown or the glowing eye behind the veil.” Cater pointed out. “We have a fifty-fifty chance.”

“Didn’t you hear me? It won’t do any good if none of us can get close enough.”

His eyes lit up; “We can’t get close enough, but you can!” he grinned, “Look; hear me out, if you convince him you’re truly on his side he’ll let you approach and you can get the crown for us to smash and you can just punch him in the glowing eye.”

“That’s an insane plan, what the hell makes you think that’ll work!?” Arisu demanded.

“Please Arisu, as your senior, trust me on this.” Cater squeezed his shoulder.

Charon had better get used to seeing him, he could tell almost instantly that he was going to be visiting him on the ferry very shortly if Cater’s plan fails. Straightening himself up, he made his way over to Riddle; he saw the vines ready to strike him again and he held his hands up in a surrender motion. A confuse tilt of the head from Riddle and halting the vines long enough was all Arisu needed; he got on his knees and rested his right hand over his heart, lowering his head to him in complete submission – and praying to every single deity that he could think of that this insane plan worked and he didn’t die on the spot!

“You win, Prefect!” Arisu called. He didn’t struggle when the vines picked him up and pulled him close to the Queen before him. “You’ve made your point clear; I was in the wrong when I challenged you and…I wish to formally apologize for my transgression.” He winced as the vines tightened around him a little.

**aNd WhY sHoUlD i TrUsT yOuR wOrDs ThIs TiMe, tRaItOr?**

“I am a mortal of a prominent coven.” He reminded. “You can tell I’m not used to how things are run around here and I’m willing to take your lessons to heart no matter how strict.” The vines let him down and Riddle held his arms, pulling him close before harshly tilting his head back so they were eye to eye, his heart was racing at the crazed look he had.

**SwEaR iT tHeN, sWeAr YoUr LoYaLtY tO tHe QuEeN oF hEaRtS!**

Arisu took one of his hands into his and placed a kiss to it. “I swear my loyalty to you, Queen of Hearts.” 

Pleased with his actions, Riddle eased his grip on him and gently ran his fingers through the mortal’s golden hair in silent praise. The redhead turned his hand that had recieved the kiss over and gently held Arisu's chin before guiding it up and forward so their lips could touch. The blonde watched as Riddle's eyes fluttered shut during their liplock and carefully ever so carefully moved his hand up to touch the tyrant's cheek. When the second-year made no action towards disallowing the motion he moved it up a little further into Riddle's blood-red locks before abruptly grabbing the crown that rested atop them and hurling it towards the ground where the Cards were waiting below. Not giving Riddle the chance to react as he muttered "Forgive me" before rearing back to punch the redhead in that glowing red eye of his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is going to be painful...YAY


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted a song in here but couldn't find a place. sorry.

_Where was he now? He was just facing off against Riddle just moments ago. Instead of the rose garden of Heartslabyul, he found himself standing in the entrance hall of someone’s house. Everything was dark and bleak, it made his heart feel heavy with each passing second that he was here. Walking further in, he heard a few things; one was the sound of chains, another was a celebration, and a third was his own heart. Deciding to check out the celebration first, he found himself in a foyer where a small birthday party was; the banner read “Happy Birthday Riddle”. Curious, he went up to the scene for a better look at the setup; at the table was a young Riddle and beside him was a beautiful woman – at least, Arisu assumed she was beautiful; she was dressed in a form-fitting red dress and her hair was done up with some curls, the only thing is her face was obscured from him._

_It was simple enough, there was the best wishes from the mother and Riddle smiling at that. But the smile fell, what was said next was pretty muffled to his ears but…he could read lip to a certain degree (He could get away with cheating in tests if someone mouthed the answer to him, he just couldn’t really eavesdrop on someone completely). What he got out of the conversation was his mother chastising him for wanting a tart with strawberries – something with that much sugar would be poison to the body. Okay fine, too much sugar could be bad for someone but…it doesn’t hurt to have it every now and again. What the hell?!_

_“ ~~I’ve always wanted to eat tarts filled with red strawberries. Just like the ones displayed on the shop window of the bakery that we pass by.”~~_

_Arisu turned around where the voice was, no-one was behind him but the sound of chains returned. Returning to the scene before him, he just saw the place blocked off with them. Letting a soft sigh, he ventured further into the house; up the stairs and into a room where he saw Riddle at a desk with books; once more he couldn’t quite hear what was being said, and lip reading didn’t provide much in terms of information. It just looked like the mother left him with an insane number of books to study through and proceeded to leave for whatever reason. The kid was eight, what the hell was wrong with this woman!?_

~~_“I was always surrounded by lessons I had to finish. If it was possible, they would have extended my lessons longer. But, something like that was “normal” for me.”_ ~~

_“Riddle…” Arisu held his heart and looked down._

_Unlike before the chains didn’t cover this room, it…actually got a little brighter, and the sound of someone tapping on the window was heard. In the tree beside the study was a familiar duo; one with light purple hair and one with green hair. Che’nya and Trey, it was refreshing to see them, and them being here made things easier to hear._

**_“Hey, hey~ Let’s play together~!” Che’nya called._ **

**_“Who are you?” Riddle looked at them. “Wait…did you seriously climb up here?”_ **

**_“Duh~ We always see you in the window and now we want you to play!”_ **

**_“You still hadn’t told me who you were.”_ **

**_Che’nya laughed. “I’m Che’nya and this one’s Trey!” he pointed to his friend. “Come on, let’s play croquet together!”_ **

**_Riddle shook his head. “I…can’t, I’m doing self-study right now.”_ **

**_“Self-study? Grandad told me that what you want to study is up to you, so you can just do it whenever~”_ **

**_Trey shook his head at his friend’s logic before turning to Riddle. “It’s just for a bit, please?”_ **

**_Riddle contemplated for a while before nodding. “If it’s only for a while…I guess it’s okay.”_ **

_“Playing with Trey and Che’nya was very fun, we played a lot of things I didn’t know how to play. The both of them taught me a lot. During my one hour of free time, I always snuck out of my room without my mother’s knowledge.”_

_His room? Arisu felt his breath hitched a bit, he wanted to explore more but…he couldn’t really move. In most cases, a person’s room was like their sanctuary; in this case, it was a prison if anything else. With the scene ending, the room shifted form; it was a prison cell and Riddle was at a table, chains were connected to him as he sat before a flickering candle and a cracked mirror. Wordlessly, Arisu moved to the chair across from him and sat before him; unlike the prefect back at the school, the Riddle before him was tired._

_“Why are you here?” Riddle’s voice was just as lethargic as he looked._

_A small shrug. “Does anyone need a reason to help a friend?” Arisu looked around._

_“A friend? An interesting word to describe someone you hardly know.”_

_“You hardly knew Trey and Che’nya and you three became friends.” He reminded. “And…Ace and Deuce are my friends too; we’ve been through a lot these past few days.”_

_Riddle just hummed. “You still haven’t told me why you’re here…what are you hoping to achieve?”_

_“I’ll be honest, when I enter someone’s soul…I never get this; I just get a black room with a table, a candle, and a mirror.” Arisu admitted. “This is out of my wheelhouse, but I know I just want to help you.”_

_“Idiot, you were knocking on death’s door earlier.” Riddle scoffed. “You know where the door is, leave.”_

_Arisu slammed his hand on the table, bringing Riddle back to him. “Like hell I’m leaving you! What do I have to say to get it through your head, I’m here because we’re friends, we care about you damn it! Trey even joined to help knock you back to your senses, and I’m here because…you’re hurting and I want to relieve you of that.”_

_A soft laugh. “A foolish mortal to the end, Arisu” He leaned forward. “So…How can you help me?”_

_“Haven’t really thought about that.” Arisu smiled gently, his eyes moved to the candle between them, the flame was a little stronger and brighter but it was still weak. “Fire’s considered a cleansing element, I think…I’m here to help you clear up.” He nodded to the room. “This.”_

_“And fire is also a destructive element.” Riddle reminded. “What are you hoping will happen if I do this?”_

_“No idea, but isn’t being a Great Magician all about taking risks?”_

“Riddle! Arisu!” 

Arisu opened his honeyed eyes, he was back in the rose garden. What the hell had happened? He wanted to move from where he was laying on the ground but there was something holding him down, he looked to where the weight was and found the young prefect holding onto him like his life depended on it. Okay, seriously what had happened? 

“Arisu, how many fingers am I holding?” Ace held up two fingers.

“Four? Ace what happened?”

Before anything could be said, Riddle opened his eyes; they were brimming with tears that were threatening to flood when he saw the state of the garden as well as the bruising on Arisu’s neck. Oh god…oh god what had happened?! What did he do to him!?

“You’re up!” Arisu sighed in relief. “Hey, how are you doing?”

Riddle gently reached for the bruise, letting his fingers brush against it. “A-Arisu…your neck-”

He gently moved his hand away. “Hey, it’s fine…I’m still standing and breathing.” 

“I’m so sorry…I…I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

The floodgates were opened and everything was coming out; every desire that would otherwise go against the Queen of Hearts’ rules, every apology, the only time they halted was when Riddle ended up using Arisu to cry on. The mortal in question just held him and looked to the others in a silent conversation before turning to Trey and nodding at him; he just nodded and went to Riddle’s side and laying a hand on his shoulder, silently beckoning him to rise. 

“You have a lot to make up for.” Trey said sternly.

Ace huffed, “I’ll say! We almost died because of you!”

“Ace-!” Arisu started.

“No, he’s right…I almost killed you!” Riddle looked at him. 

“The vines weren’t wrapped like a proper noose, I only lost consciousness!” he winced when Trey swatted his head.

“Keep quiet.” Ace told him before going back to Riddle. “My birthday’s not for a while and Arisu’s isn’t until November…we’re going to have a redo of the party; except you’re providing the tarts and after I may or may not forgive you.”

Arisu looked at him with an annoyed look. “Ace, if I were to open a dictionary and went to the word ‘jackass’ I’d find your picture.”

“Outsiders, keep quiet.” Ace dismissed him. “You can ask Arisu to help make the tart, Trey’s not allowed to help. You got all that?”

Riddle raised an eyebrow. “Arisu, I think you got your terminology mixed up; I think if we turn to the word ‘confusing’ we’d find Trappola’s picture.” He shook his head. “I agree to your terms, Ace.”

“After you get back from the infirmary.” Trey ordered. “You two suffered the most.” He looked down at Arisu. “There is no getting out of this either, I don’t care what you say; you were almost hung.”

Arisu huffed, “Alright, mom.” He smirked when Trey stuttered for a response. 

The infirmary visit was on another level altogether; both were laying on the bed while the medic, Dr. Crane, was looking them over. Riddle had priority first since he went into Overblot, his magic channels were shot and he would have to refrain from using magic for a while and had to come in every day to get those healed up, he was fine – physically at least. Emotionally and mentally, he was still a wreck and he was going to be coming in for healing in those fields. Riddle agreed – only if Arisu or Trey were with him during sessions with the counselor, he wasn’t going through it alone, for now…he agreed to spending today on bedrest. 

Arisu had a little more care going on; he was going through some breathing treatment as Dr. Crane was healing his airpipes. The bruises were going to be there for a while, but it wasn’t anything too serious at least, the important thing was that they were working on making sure he was still able to breathe. Like Riddle, he was going into counseling daily and was going to spend today on bedrest. The two spent that night together in silence; a few times, Riddle would wake up and call to Arisu to make sure he was still with them in the land of the living – thankfully, he was, and even assured Riddle that come morning, he would still be here. 

After the third time of Riddle calling to him, Arisu finally got up from his bed and went over to Riddle’s before climbing in. It wasn’t a comfortable fit, but they did their best to make it work. Riddle had gotten up for a little bit before returning with his phone, he handed it to Arisu and told him to pull up videos from MagiCam to watch; they were going to need something to help them fall asleep. With a smile, Arisu just pulled up a video of a Let’s Player’s run of the game Kindergarten; it was a comedy horror and the two found themselves snickering or laughing at moments of the game – it was actually so stupid that it was enjoyable.

“I think this is the first time I’ve seen you so relaxed.” Arisu said softly.

“I can count a handful of times I’ve let myself really relax.” Riddle whispered. His world always revolved around rules. His mother’s rules more specifically. And that without them, nothing in his world would make sense. But he had switched upholding his mother’s rules for upholding the rules set by her majesty, The Queen of Hearts. 

And he hadn’t realized how much stress he was putting on everyone, including himself. 

Until he Overblotted.

Arisu gently touched his shoulder to bring him back. “Prefect Rosehearts?”

“Please, address me by name, Arisu.” Riddle looked up at him. “We’re on equal grounds now.”

“Riddle.” Arisu corrected. “Can I ask you something?” he heard a small hum. “Upon first meeting, you’ve made it clear you wanted my head on a silver platter; may I ask, what it was I did that warranted that rage?”

"Your presence triggered something in me, something unexpected and I was unable to take the time to properly analyze what that something was. Because I never had the time to figure out what you had triggered in me, I started to lose my mind one might say” He sighed. “I had nothing to rely on but the rules I had so diligently studied and those provided me with no answers on how to proceed with solving the mystery you caused just by existing" Riddle said turning his face away as he spoke so Arisu wouldn't catch how his cheeks had begun to darken with a blush.

"Okay so I like didn't understand any of what you just said, might repeating that in normal English maybe?" Arisu said trying to sound lighthearted even though he was a bit perplexed by Riddle's monologue.

Riddle huffed and looked at him. “Right, you’re but a common mortal.” He turned his phone off and set it aside. “I was hit with various feelings that I was unable to figure out and lashed out thinking if I kept a distance from you it would help with them, thinking that I wouldn’t have to worry about them anymore.”

Arisu blinked at him. “I…think this is where I stop questioning the subject…”

"Right then, I'm going to go to sleep now. Good night" Riddle said squeezing his eyes shut and turning over onto his side and waiting for Arisu to get up. "I said good night" he said turning his head and upper torso to look at the blonde who hadn't moved an inch.

"I heard you, but I’m too comfy to get up. Good night to you too" Arisu said turning onto his side facing away from the redhead. 

Riddle let out a small huff but didn't say anything more on the matter trying to keep his back from pressing against Arisu's but failing miserably. He thanked his lucky stars that the infirmary was a little chilly to combat the heat in his cheeks and the warmth of Arisu's skin pressed against his.

With the morning light shining, Idia and Malleus entered the infirmary to collect Arisu, upon entering the room they were greeted to the delightful sight of seeing Arisu and Riddle in each other’s arms, still sleeping peacefully. Not even hesitating, they took a quick picture with their phones. The moment was interrupted when Doctor Crane came in and woke the two up for their wellbeing checkup; with the all clear, they got into a fresh change of clothes and went over towards the two seniors that were waiting for them. Malleus wasted no time in pulling his dear friend close into his arms, after what felt like an eternity, he finally let go of Arisu and backed off.

Riddle cleared his throat to get their attention; “Draconia, Shroud.” He greeted. “Good morning.”

“Good morning to yourself, Prefect Rosehearts.” Idia greeted. “We’re just here for the idiot so you may oversee your party.”

“About that, I was actually wondering if you would like to attend?” 

Malleus rose an eyebrow. “I could be wrong, but I thought the rules didn’t allow other dorms to attend.”

“Unless invited by a prefect or vice-prefect.” Riddle looked up. “Will you two join us?”

Idia shuddered. “I’d rather not.” 

Malleus stared at Riddle incredulously. “You’re truly serious about your invitation?” he watched Riddle nod. “I…suppose I could show up…” he cleared his throat and straightened himself up. “Well, you heard Dr. Crane, you two should be on your way. I’ll see you this afternoon.”

With all said and done, the group parted ways; but before they did, Arisu piped up and mentioned that he was going to help Riddle make the tarts and introduce the prefect to the Shai Family style. Idia just quietly told Riddle ‘good luck’ and left, Malleus just grinned at Riddle and gently shook his head as he left to get dressed up for the afternoon. Riddle just raised an eyebrow, what the hell were the two’s concerns when it came to making the tarts in question; he got his answer after Arisu took him to the kitchen to get them made.

Somewhere along the tart making line, Riddle was half convinced they weren’t making tarts anymore based off the recipe Arisu was giving him. Some were starting to look more like pies than they were of tarts, but he assured him that the ‘Shai Style Tarts’ were turning out the way they should be…he wasn’t certain what made their tarts special but he decided to go along with it. He agreed to the terms after all, and…making the tarts was actually fun – for Arisu especially, he made sure to give Riddle a heart attack each time; first was scooping the remaining meringue from the bowl and eating it in front of him, he got scolded for health reasons and Arisu was just laughing the entire time. It took a lot of assurance that the amount wouldn’t make him sick and that one small spoonful would be fine to get Riddle to try it. The expression was just priceless and he wished he had his phone to save that forever. Hours later, it was time for the party.  
  
The damage was fixed – well, there were some pieces of the aftermath that was hidden away in the corner, but for the most part everything was back as normal; the roses were red, the tablecloths were white and pristine, and Riddle was frozen in place with Trey and Arisu at his side. 

“You’re stiff again.” Arisu poked him. “Relax, it’s a new day.”

Riddle looked at him, “I’m only stiffed because someone’s been eating raw meringue.”

“He what?” Trey looked over to Arisu with an incredulous look.

“It’s only a little bit.” Arisu defended with a grin.

“And raw filling.” Riddle shook his head. “You’re officially banned from the Heartslabyul kitchen until you learn basic health and safety.” He ignored Arisu’s protest and turned to the entrance of the garden where a familiar dragonborn faerie walked in. He approached him and offered a small smile; “We were wondering when you would show, Draconia.”

Malleus had a small smile of his own. “You did invite me; it would be rude not to show up.” He walked into the garden with Riddle, there was the silence and a heavy air as soon as the prefect of Diasomnia had entered – he did have a reputation that left people scared of him after all. Something had caught Malleus’ gaze as he looked over to a rose bush; there were still some white roses to be seen. “Hm? Correct me if I’m wrong, Little Queen, but aren’t roses to be red during an unbirthday party?”

That question caused Cater to pale and turned to Ace and Deuce; “You two said you painted those!

“What are you blaming us for?!” Deuce cried

A soft chuckle came from Riddle. “Relax, I won’t get mad…of course it will be quicker if we painted them.” He looked to Ace. “Ah, I forgot…Arisu told me something last night and…I had Trey pick it up from the school store.” He watched as Trey came up with a bag. “He said you have an easier chance at painting roses with this?”

Ace was confused but took the contents out; a super-soaker water gun. He was kidding around when he said that back on their first day of painting! He just laughed and filled it with red paint, well, may as well see if using this would be effective or not. The good news, it was! The bad news; it resulted in an all-out paint war between the first years and their seniors – they ended up getting the whole dorm involved. 

Malleus was off to the side and watched with amusement, it was refreshing to see the Heartslabyul dorm delve into chaos once in a while instead of the harsh and strict ways like the past year had been. His thoughts were interrupted when a splash of red paint had hit his face. The rest of the dorm went still and the air was tensed again. Malleus slowly blinked and turned to where the shot had come from; Ace and Deuce were pointing at Arisu who just had an impish grin on his face.

Of course, it would be Sunflower that would initiate this. Malleus smirked and sauntered over before picking up a can of near empty Red paint and pouring it over the blond. “We’re even.” He smirked.

“Like hell we are.” Arisu huffed and sprayed him with the red paint again. “Turning me into Carrie, huh?”

With those two at it, the war resumed with Malleus on the side of the seniors. The paint war had lasted until everyone had ran out paint from either the cans or water guns; with everyone cleaning any stray paint off the grounds and cleaning themselves up, the party had – well, it had started with the war, but the tea party portion could finally begin. There were some mixed reactions and a debate whether or not Arisu’s recipes were indeed tarts or pies, Arisu was of no help he claimed ‘they were tarts and everyone had to be blind to not see it’. Then there was one tart that Riddle served…it had oyster sauce in it; Trey was laughing in the background, in the end he finally got someone to fall for that prank.

“Ahh~ Even if they’re not Trey’s sweets, they’re still amazing~”

Riddle looked over at the surprise guest, his eyes widened a little. “Che’nya!? What are you doing here?”

The strange boy grinned at him. “Hm~? I came to celebrate your Unbirthday Party~!”

“It’s…a tradition exclusive to the Heartslabyul dorm…You’re not-”

“Yet you have those three~” He pointed to Arisu, Grim, and Malleus.

“What dorm is he from if he’s not in Heartslabyul?” Grim asked, not looking up from his tart.

Trey winced. “Che’nya’s not a student of our school, he’s actually a student from Royal Sword Academy, Night Raven College’s rival.”

Another chain reaction, Che’nya laughed as some of the Heartslabyul students gave chase before vanishing. He appeared behind Arisu for a brief second and whispered to him; “I’ll be back, Alice~” that resulted in Arisu getting tackled as Che’nya vanished afterwards. Riddle cleared his throat and shooed everyone off the boy before helping him up. 

“Are you alright?” he asked.

Malleus shook his head. “He’s not fragile, Prefect Rosehearts.” He assured. “Believe it or not, he’s actually pretty fit; he played in little leagues when he was a kid and now, he was on his school’s competitive bike riding team.”

“Whoa seriously?” Grim looked up at Arisu. “You have a lot of trophies in your room right! You’re so cool!”

“I do have medals from biking, yes.” He confirmed. “As for the little leagues, we’re usually a mix of silver and gold; because we’re always facing off against this one team from Wisconsin. Seriously, why couldn’t we face any other schools from that state.”

“He’s the best second basemen and he always comes home with scraped legs because of his constant sliding.” Malleus chuckled. “You should have seen Lilia fretting over him.” He cleared his throat. “Ahem, anyway, you don’t have to fret over him much.”

Riddle crossed his arms. “It’s called being concerned for a friend, Prefect Draconia.” That got a collective confused glance from the group, Riddle just continued. “After all, isn’t that you said, Alice? Does anyone need a reason to help a friend?”

Arisu smiled at him, “I did say that.” 

“Well…since that punk from RSA is gone…” Ace lifted a plate up. “Let’s continue this party! We’re partying until we pass out in a sugar coma!” that got cheers from everyone – and surprisingly from Riddle. 

A successful party indeed. With all said and done, it was safe to say that things would start to go easy with Heartslabyul from here on.

*****

Another day of school, another day of class. Arisu had found himself adjusting to the life of Night Raven College; days after the Unbirthday Party, there were nights Arisu would wake up to someone pounding on the door to Ramshackle Dorm, upon opening the door he was greeted to a disheveled Riddle. He couldn’t really blame him for looking like that, after all, they were still visiting the school counselor and both had found they were still having nightmares from the Overblot episode. Nights like this, the two would sit up with a warm drink and just talk – they didn’t care what they were talking about, most of the time it was whatever came to mind at the time; for Arisu, he would talk about the bike trail he would ride down and enjoy the forest. For Riddle, he would talk about the hedgehogs back at the dorm and the little antics they would pull. It wouldn’t be for another week that they would be able to talk about the incident and cross pass it together. It was agreed that this would be met on neutral grounds and would go about this at their own pace (meeting ground was a picnic in the courtyard), and a teacher would supervise to make sure all went well (Mr. Trein would be at a distance watching over them), all that was left was to get through today’s lessons and to meet with Riddle to settle this.

Ace was talking to Grim about the in depths of the Great Seven as they trio escorted Arisu to the courtyard. “The Great Seven is made up of many magicians and witches, but the Queen didn’t use any special magic.” He started. “Nevertheless, the Queen of Hearts is a member of the Great Seven, isn’t that insane?”

“So cool!” Grim’s eyes were shining and his forked tail was swaying. “A magician who doesn’t need magic! Arisu! You have the makings of a Great Magician in no time!” he looked at his human and tilted his head. “Arisu?” he poked his cheek to get his attention. “Hey!!!”

“I heard you, Grim.” Arisu looked at him. “And I’m flattered you’re thinking high of me, but right now my mind’s kind of focusing on one thing right now…”

Ace and Deuce stopped in place and looked at him with a concerned look on their faces. Deuce walked up and took Arisu’s shoulder in his hand, there would be no fault if he wanted to duck out of this meeting and reschedule it – after all, it had to be on both parties’ terms to go through with this meeting. Arisu just smiled up at him and moved his hand off in a silent assurance that things would be fine. Of course, he won’t lie, he was actually nervous facing Riddle in the courtyard. The rest of the walk there was in silence – save for Grim’s purring as he kept nudging Arisu’s face (of course, Grim would just say he wasn’t purring in the least bit).

Upon arriving at the courtyard, Arisu handed Grim to Ace and smiled at them, assuring his friends he would be fine. He continued the journey to the picnic set up and settled down on the blanket before him, he was early so it gave him time to clear his head and to relax under the sun. The wait wouldn’t be long since the sound of footsteps came his way, opening his eyes he saw Riddle before him and Trey finishing the setup with snacks and beverages before leaving the two to their meeting. Like before, Arisu and Riddle agreed to approach this topic on their terms and Arisu was the one who broke the ice. 

“How are the hedgehogs?”

Riddle looked up at him. “They’re fine, I’m actually going to be tending to them after this.”

“You said that communication with the hedgehog was important to the game, right?”

“Yeah…communication with the hedgehog and flamingo.” Riddle looked at him. “You have been paying attention to croquet lessons after all.”

Arisu gave a light shrug. “Well…it’s a nobleperson’s sport, right?”

A light chuckle before a soft sigh. “How is your neck?” 

Arisu pulled his shirt down to show him the bruise, “It’s healing…another two weeks should do the trick in healing up.” He looked at him. “How are you sleeping?”

“I still have moments where I think you’re a ghost and this is just me being in denial. They’re few and far in between, so I’ve been sleeping well.” He reached up and gently traced his fingers over the bruise. “What about you?”

Arisu let him get close as he answered. “I still have moments as well, nightmares…I just get up, put some music on, and return to sleep.” He looked at him. “Phantom of the Opera is my go-to.”

Riddle nodded and retracted his hand from him. “I see, you…don’t really strike me as the type to listen to Broadway musicals, then again, I wouldn’t have pegged you as the type to be able to enter a person’s soul. I want to thank you for that inane idea of setting fire to one’s room by the way.”

“So, how are you feeling?”

“Lighter?” he tried. “I mean I’m still my normal self but…”

“You feel like extra weight was taken off you.” Arisu finished, Riddle just nodded at that. “You’re definitely more approachable now that you set fire to it all.”

A soft hum was his reply. “A meddlesome mortal such as yourself is going to get hurt in this world, I’m going to have to take care of you.” He laughed as Arisu just gently nudged him.

“So, where do we go from here?”

“What is it your cousin always say? Carpe Noctem?” Riddle smiled a little at him. “I say we take his word on the matter, we still have a full year of Night Raven College left after all and…you still need to strengthen your magic channels and keep your grades up.” His smile fell and a serious look graced his face. “I mean what I said Arisu, as long as I am the prefect of Heartslabyul, no-one will have failing marks under my careful watch, that includes you and that tanuki pet of yours.”

“I’m not even a member of your dorm!”

“No, but you’re an honorary member and that still counts.” He crossed his arms. “The second your grades start to slip is the second we’re doing after school tutoring, do you understand?”

“Yes, Prefect Rosehearts!” Arisu chimed with a little salute. “Keep in mind, I am going to get my revenge on you for throwing us out of the party the first time.” He smirked

“This should be good; I can’t wait to see what you and your motley crew have in mind.” Riddle returned the smirk. “Keep in mind, you have to get up extra early in the day to make me look bad, Alice.”

Arisu laughed. “Ace is going to kill you when he finds out you’re using his nickname.”

The rest of the meeting was spent enjoying the treats in silence and the only conversations they would have would be related to schoolwork and if they had any plans after the year was over; somewhere in talking about schoolwork related things, Riddle had offered to teach Arisu some basic spells and he actually agreed. The spark that Arisu could only conjure up turned into a small flame – it was progress at least, but he found he had an easier time with nature-based spells than he did with others; Riddle took note of that and was determined to help push him to the rest of the branches – on his own terms of course. The fun came to a halt when the bell from the clock tower chimed, their session for today was over, but they had agreed to meet up outside sessions and classes to work on magic lessons and for the occasional tea meeting just to relax among the rose gardens. They stood up and bid each other a good day before heading off to the rest of their classes that day.

*****

His head was throbbing like hell and he was going to scream; whatever the Headmaster had called him, Ace, Grim, and Deuce for had better be important otherwise he was going to riot. Okay, Arisu was a patient person, but with classes being over, he just wanted to read something mindless for the day and relax without having stress piled on him – wasn’t that why he was in those sessions with Riddle, to keep emotional distress at bay? Straightening himself up, he approached the headmaster’s office with his friends and walked in; the man was there going over some files and muttering to himself. The group watched him for a while; his behaviors were strange to say the least; Idia’s mic was cut off when he was about to confirm Arisu’s identity, Crowley not following up on that claim the first night, making a false phone call, suggesting an inane idea for Ace and Deuce, and then there was hardly flinching when of the Three Heads nearly bit his head off…heck he hardly flinched when Lord Hades was a scarlet red after Idia tipped him off. Either he was one of those people who had a calm exterior but panics inside or there was more to the story.

“You wanted to see us, Headmaster?” Arisu called.

The headmaster had his cheerful smile as he set the files down. “Yes, I’ve heard back from our counselor that you and young Rosehearts are making quite the progress in your sessions with him.”

He nodded. “Yeah, Sir Terra’s been an amazing help and…our nightmares are lessening up.” 

“Splendid! The well-being of our students is our first and upmost priority!” He leaned back. “Now then, let’s talk about why you’re here.” His expression turned serious. “All four of you were involved in the incident that had happened in the Heartslabyul dorm, and now that our human is in the right state of mind for this conversation; I’ll be able to thoroughly explain it to you.”

“I love how you waited for what, weeks (?) to tell us the full situation.” Ace said dryly. “Instead of, you know, telling Deuce, Grim, and I earlier so we could just hand that information off to Arisu when he recovers.”

He waved a dismissive hand. “I figured it would be easier if all four of you were present, that way no information would be left out.” Ace dropped his shoulders at that. “Arisu already knows a little bit as is.”

Arisu nodded, “My family just calls it ‘Corruption’ as theoretically speaking, magicians are born with a natural stain in their arts no thanks to certain events back in the past. But…there’s really no records of it, if there was those would be in the Archives but even then, the numbers are few and far in between.”

Grim cleared his throat, “What exactly is blotting?” he sat on Arisu’s shoulder again. “How is it bad in the first place?”

“Think of it as a car.” Arisu said. “You know how you need oil changes? Skipping an oil change leads to the vehicle’s oil thinning over time and catching a buildup of metal, dirt, and other particles. Over time, the oil will become abrasive and wear down on vital engine parts.” He nodded. “Before anyone asks, my dad’s a mechanic and he own’s a shop in town.”

“The magical jewels on your pens aren’t just for show, they exist as an outlet for one’s magic. Of course, one other purpose it has is to accumulate blot that could directly affect the caster.” He looked to Arisu. “Unless you’re of the Three Families, then a familiar is there for you – they detect if a blot or ‘Corruption’ as Arisu pointed out is occurring. For the most part, a familiar is docile unless their masters are being threatened or are in the way of great harm.” Crowley explained. “There is also the flip side of the coin…”

Arisu looked at his friends; “Before you go into meltdown mode; this is a major rule for everyone – in the magical community or mortal community; take care of your body by eating, sleeping and resting properly. Now, that rule is often ignored, it’s vital to at least try and let the blot recede. He watched them sigh in relief.

“Young Shai is correct.” Crowley said. “The magician’s overall state and well-being actually plays a huge influence on their magical limit before experiencing Blot. Anger, sorrow, terror, confusion…experiencing constant negative energies like that makes it easier for Blot to accumulate.” He clapped his hands together and smiled bright. “That’s why we have people like Terra around to ensure nothing like this will ever happen again! He’s skilled in making students feel at ease, what happened with young Rosehearts was sudden and we weren’t expecting it to happen, but rest assure that such a thing will never happen again. Our students’ wellbeing is important after all~”

“I feel like visiting him should be mandatory.” Ace said raising an eyebrow.

“And it will be!” The headmaster assured. “Now then, we’re all on the same page now and it’s time for you four to scurry off to dinner now, remember what Arisu said about eating properly!” the four looked at each other and turned to leave. “Ah, before I forget, be mindful of the stairs in the west wing if you choose to go down there…the stairs might be rotted, we’ve had some students fall from there.”

Thanks for the warning?

The group just nodded and made their way out, Arisu led the way to the west wing; it was the closest to the dining hall – that is if he wanted to eat there, he enjoyed the cafeteria food but he was starting to crave for something else. He had overheard about another place but it was located in the Octavinelle’s dorm, he figured it couldn’t hurt to try there, of course he had heard from passing students talk about the prefect of the dorm. He would have to talk to Riddle about that before he headed off. 

Seeing the stairs, Arisu moved Grim off him and tenderly tried the stairs out. They didn’t creak or feel rotten. He looked at his friends before he jumped on each step and each was a similar result…they were sturdy and in perfect shape. Students fell from here and the cause was blamed on rotted steps, he looked up at his friends in silence; another thing to tack onto the list of bad feelings they were getting. It was settled, they were going to talk to Riddle, Trey, and Cater about this; the more people they had to confide in the easier this would be. The lounge could wait, Arisu could handle another dish at the cafeteria if it meant getting to the bottom of this. 

They didn’t really get far when a flash of teal pounced from the shadows and tilted Arisu’s head back so he was looking at the figure looming over him.

“Ahh~ This is the mysterious Damsel Fish who won Goldfish over?” he pinched his cheeks and his smile grew. “You’re so cute~ I’m jealous~”

“Oy! Let him go!” Ace ran over and pulled Arisu from the student. “Where’s your twin?”

The student kept the grin on his face. “Nice to see you too Crab~ And Jade’s around somewhere, does it matter~?”

“You two know each other?” Arisu asked.

“Yeah…we’re in the basketball club.” Ace’s eyes lit up. “Ah! I think there’s some clubs that allow late entry…but anyway, Arisu…meet Floyd.”

Floyd just waved at him. “You looked so trouble, I had to see what was wrong~”

“It’s nothing serious.” Arisu assured. “We were just talking about gym class; our bodies still ache from it and we were cursing out our teacher…he caught wind and we just got out from a scolding.”

“Floyd just raised an eyebrow and shrugged, “If you say so.” He walked by. “Well~ I’ll leave you alone for now,” his eyes lit up. “Ah, if you ever get tired of the cafeteria food, you could come down to the lounge, we’ll welcome you with open arms!”

Could today get any weirder? Actually, Arisu didn’t want the answer to that question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> despite this part being over: We have some time before savannaclaw; I want to tie up some more loose ends (and give my fingers a break)


	9. I Won't Say I'm in Love/Royalty Team Up

Terra had said that sometimes a change in scenery was needed for healing; that meant until said otherwise, Riddle and Arisu weren’t allowed to go to their dorms unless it’s to check in and make sure students are behaving or unless it was time for bed. This left Riddle finding himself out and about more often than not – the library was out of the question as he spent his free time there already, so he settled with being by the stables and tending the horses there including his own steed Vorpal. Being with the horses brought a wave of calm around him, there were times other students would show up and help out – Jamil being one of them, they just nodded at each other and would take one of the horses out for a quick ride to keep them active. Days like this were the greatest, he could ride and clear his head without any worry in the world; of course, the moment he went back to his dorm to sleep was another problem altogether.

Sure, the nightmares had finally stopped; he’s not bolting over to Ramshackle to see if Arisu was still alive anymore, but the boy was still on his mind. They more he thought about their evening conversations, the more he felt himself falling harder for him – sure there was that ridiculous notion of ‘love at first sight’ that drew him to the boy at first; he was cute for lack of better words; heck, the whole reason he went to that table of troublemakers was just to see if Arisu would have lunch with him, of course…he should have expected that it wouldn’t go that way when that brash idiot Ace was around. His nightmares of the boy dying were over and that was a blessing; but the blond just won’t leave his dreams even if they were simple like wanting to show him around the Rose Kingdom. Those were the nights that he would wake and throw his pillow across the room in frustration, and nights like that were why he would be found outside in the roses trying to clear his head. But it didn’t stop there; during art class one day, he found himself sketching Arisu under a rose tree and having tea – the teacher loved the detail in the sketch and encouraged the painting that was now hanging in the art room; Riddle was just praying to whoever was listening that Arisu never sees it or asks about it.

It's what brought him to the now; he was laying out in the courtyard and under the stars. He couldn’t sleep and the roses from his dorm wasn’t helping in the slightest bit since his mind would wander back to the strange mortal boy that had saved him from an Overblot – he wasn’t certain of the details; he just know that he found himself in his room and Arisu was there to help him in a strange and unconventional way. He was grateful for that, and owed him for it. Great, even being outside away from the roses and laying under the stars his mind still went back to him! What was it going to take to get that mortal out of his thoughts!

“Ah~ What’s this? Little Goldfish outside after curfew?” 

Someone up there hated him. Floyd was the last person that Riddle wanted to deal with at the moment. With a sigh, Riddle sat up and turned to see Floyd sitting next to him with his sharp-toothed grin and messy appearance; tiredly, all he could do is force out a single question. “What do you want this time, Floyd?”

“I heard the rumors that you’ve been” he thought for a bit. “Hmm…Well you are in a daze mostly, distracted?” he tried. “Healing is obvious – how are you feeling by the way?”

“I’m doing fine, the sessions with Terra have been a massive help on my state.” Riddle confirmed. “As for the ‘distracted’ rumors, there’s nothing more to say – they’re just rumors and nothing more.”

“You’re thinking about the Damselfish, aren’t you?” Floyd’s grin grew. “He’s doing fine, he was just with the Earless Seal, Crab, and Mackerel today! They were playing games at Ignihyde.”

“And you know this, how?” Riddle demanded.

Floyd leaned close to him. “Silly Goldfish, we have eyes and ears everywhere in the school.” He poked his nose. “So, what is it about Damselfish that has you so stressed?”

Riddle shoved him away with a huff. “It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with; this is my problem and my problem alone.”

Floyd hummed and laid back on the grass. “Your heart is yearning for him.” He watched him freeze. “Nobody paints an oil painting of someone in red roses if they weren’t – especially if it’s under coral and red roses; which, if Crewel’s lessons are anything to go off of, means Desire. You’re not fooling anyone, Goldfish.”

One of Floyd’s famous switches, Riddle flinched at the sudden change and let his shoulders sink. “Fine…I know not to try anything when you’re like…this.” He motioned to the way Floyd looked now; bored expression, irritated posture despite laying down, he looked like a ticking timebomb. “I…have found myself attracted to Shai.” 

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.” He rolled his eyes. “You’re a pining disaster waiting to happen."

“What do you want me to do, Floyd?” Riddle challenged. 

“Just. Tell him!” Floyd groaned. “Give him flowers with a card professing your love, chocolates, even stand outside his window with a radio playing some cheesy love song – just tell him!”

Riddle sighed and shook his head. **“If there’s a prize for rotten judgement, I guess we’ve already won that. No one is worth the aggravation.”** He stood up. **“That’s ancient history; been there, done that.”**

**“Who d’you think you’re kidding? He’s the earth and heaven to you, try to keep it hidden – Honey, I can see right through you; boy you can’t conceal it, I know how you’re feeling, who you’re thinking of~”**

Another shake of the head. **“No chance, no way, I won’t say it; no, no.”** he started to walk off. **“It’s too cliché, I won’t say I’m in love.”**

“The more you keep fighting this, the more it’s just going to hurt.” Floyd followed him. “You’ll hurt yourself when Damselfish is in the arms of another and you start kicking yourself over the fact you had every chance to tell him but now you can’t because he’s already in a relationship.”

“Even if I did, it won’t work!” Riddle shouted. **“I thought my heart had learned its lesson, it feels so good when you start out; my head is screaming “Get a grip, boy! Unless you’re dying to cry your heart out!”**

“Someone else won Goldfish’s heart in the past? What happened?” He nudged him. “Come on, tell your best friend everything~”

Riddle rolled his eyes. “First; you're not my best friend, you're a nuisance, second; It’s none of your damn business.” He hissed. “It …it wasn’t able to work out…that’s all you really need to know. If it didn’t work on him…it wouldn’t work with Arisu, I’m not hurting him.” 

Floyd laid a hand on his shoulder and muttered something that Riddle couldn’t pick up. “Goldfish…please answer me this; do you really love Arisu?”

Riddle sighed; he wasn’t sure why but something compelled him to answer honestly. **“At least out loud, I won’t say I’m in love.”** He held his heart. “I do love him.” He finally said quietly.

Floyd hummed and nodded; "Well I guess that's all I need to hear~" he grinned. "Goldfishie's heart is so sweet and full of love, I wonder if there's room for one more? Ah~ I'll figure out soon, have a good night Goldfish-chan." he turned and left the young prefect alone in an annoyed and confused state.  
  
 *****  
  
Ever since their picnic, Riddle had been beside Arisu’s side teaching him in magical arts; they would meet up in the Heartslabyul rose garden where he would teach him nature-based spells. From raw usage – no wand needed and drawing power from one’s center, Arisu was able to get a small seedling; with his magic pen, he was able to get a flower to start to bloom – it wasn’t much, but a start was still a start. All the while, Riddle was patient with him and even provided some tips and advice to help him make the flowers bloom with ease. This had been a somewhat normal occurrence, every afternoon they would meet after classes and would work on nature-based spells and would stop at exactly four for teatime – Riddle’s personal favorite moment between them; sitting in the roses with matcha green tea (it was Arisu’s insistence because of the health benefits it came with and he decided to humor him, to his surprise; it was sweet tasting naturally and he accepted that healthy and sweets went hand in hand.). Quiet afternoon with tea and some teacakes between them, days like this were worth keeping in their hearts. 

Of course, sometime after they began their lessons; Arisu had joined the Light Music Club, he had no problem with it at first as he expected Cater to bring him to Heartslabyul for their daily appointment together – that was a failure as Vil had stormed into the club and hijacked Arisu from the school for that photoshoot; Riddle would have to admit, seeing Arisu in that suit was quite a sight to see and he actually enjoyed it greatly. Since then, his meetings with the blond still continued and Arsiu’s magic had been flourishing perfectly; he was quite the gardener with his raw ability, and when it came to defense, he was able to conjure a wall of thorns. Arisu, though grateful, told Riddle that there was a slim chance of him actually using his newfound powers; though disappointed at the news, Riddle made it clear that he would still continue to teach his dear Alice and everything would turn out well in the end – even if it means Arisu is using his new powers to make his own garden back home.

Today was different however, Riddle was made aware that some students were falling from the stairs and when Arisu, Grim, and the A-Duece combo brought up what the headmaster had said about rotted steps and proving it to be false; he so desperately wanted to start the investigation on his own, but he knows damn well that Crowley would suspect something and would make things harder. He made up his mind and decided to change things up for the day; instead of magic lessons like usual, he instead brought Arisu inside the dorm and taught him how to dance – the waltz is a gentleman’s dance after all, and one must learn it if they ever hope to advance in society (one rare thing he was glad to learn from his family). Arisu was taken by surprised when Riddle brought this up; he was a stumbling mess when they started out and if Riddle had to be honest, he found it to be quite amusing to watch – even if he had to correct his posture and keep him from looking down at his feet every three seconds.

He wasn’t sure how long it had been before their afternoon teatime, but the moment they had sat down to enjoy their usual brew was when things had taken a sharp turn. Vil had come into the room; dressed in his dorm uniform – which, if Riddle also had to be honest here, was…too much for his taste; along, furisode-like indigo robe which drags on the floor, and has high slits in the sleeves. The inner fabric red with a regal pattern displaying the Evil Queen's famed poison apple. An intricate golden design bearing the Pomefiore emblem is also printed on the right shoulder of his robe. But it didn’t stop there; beneath the slits of his sleeves, he wears a tighter, black long-sleeved garment. His sleeves form a pointed shape on the back of his hand and tie around his middle fingers. Riddle just inwardly shuddered, he was thankful that the Heartslabyul dorm uniform worked on practicality – even if Cater’s idea for a dorm uniform that Arisu wore was a bit feminine, it still held practicality in it.

“Prefect Schoenheit.” Riddle greeted. “To what do I owe this surprise visit of yours.”

Vil bowed a little bit in greeting, “Prefect Rosehearts, I see you’re doing well still.” He stood up. “I’m actually here for your student.” He looked to Arisu.

“You’re not taking me to another photoshoot.” Arisu said bluntly.

“That’s not why I’m here.” Vil sat beside them. “I’m actually curious about you; you survived an Overblot attack, you’re a mortal with a very small spark of magic – it’s actually growing a little, my praise to Prefect Rosehearts for that, there’s so much potential in you that it’s killing me to sit and look at you.” 

Riddle just raised an eyebrow as he took a macaron off the plate before him (One of Arisu’s ideas to switch up their routines). “You’re here to bring his internal gift out, aren’t you?”

“You know me so well, Rosehearts.” He turned back to Arisu and crossed his arms. “Show me your magic.” He demanded. Arisu blinked and complied, he brought forth a rose before them, Vil was hardly budging from the sight of it. “No, not that magic, your unique magic.”

“My what now?” Arisu asked. “You mean like Riddle’s ‘Off with Your Head’ spell?”

“No, I mean the fancy parlor tricks.” Vil rolled his eyes as he replied dryly. “Yes, I mean like Prefect Rosehearts’ spell; now show me the spell you used to calm him after he overblotted.”

“Vil.” Riddle spoke up. “I…don’t think he knows how he did it.” 

Vil laid his head in his hand. “Riddle, I respect you…I know you’ve been teaching this boy magic and helping him grow, but…surely you’ve been teaching him how to control his unique magic!”

“He didn’t because I’m essentially a magicless mortal in a school of magicians!” Arisu cried.

“That is a damn lie and you know it.” Riddle snapped at him. “Yes, the mirror didn’t detect anything but it takes a powerful magician to detect what the Dark Mirror can’t!” he sighed and folded his hands. “Vil, would you care to join us in our lessons from here on out?”

“It would be my pleasure, Riddle.” Vil turned to him. “Now then; I want you to tell me everything, leading up to the overblot and the aftermath.” He took his phone out and opened a blank page. “Do not leave anything out.”

“Alright…” Arisu sighed. “The first day I met Riddle was my second day here at Night Raven College, but my first as an actual student. It was around lunch time and upon meeting him, I saw a wall of ice around him, I was confused about it and made plans to talk with Idia about the whole thing – after I was dragged into chestnut picking and tart making with Ace, Deuce, and Grim.” He watched as the blond prefect was writing everything down. “When I asked Idia about it, he said that it was a barrier and that it was there because Riddle didn’t want anyone or anything to see what was going on inside of him.”

“Sounds like a mental shield.” Vil confirmed. “It’s not uncommon for strong magicians to consciously or unconsciously set up mental barriers to keep other magicians out. There's still a problem in the magical community with mind-control spells and hypnosis that such measures are occasionally necessary. However, I don't believe Rosehearts was at risk from an attack on his mind, correct?”

“Correct.” Arisu confirmed. “I actually felt some kind of pain when I saw the ice barrier and the weak flame before it – that was before I went to visit Idia about the whole thing.” He closed his eyes to clear his mind. “When the day of the Unbirthday party happened – and failed because of a tart incident, I tried to go back and used my family lineage to my advantage – I apologized on Ace’s behalf, and Riddle gave me the chance to perform a song.”

“That was when I noticed he was trying to do an aura-based spell on me.” Riddle spoke up. “I won’t lie, I was rather upset when it happened and took it out on him.”

Vil sighed and took a break from typing. “I am going to pretend you didn’t just tell me you essentially attacked Riddle without meaning to.” He straightened up again. “It’s an understandable mistake, but try not to make that mistake again – not all mental shields will be as benign as Rosehearts’.” Vil looked back at him. “What happened after the Overblot?”

“I was able to enter and I…found myself in his house, most everything was this sickly grey, but…there were a few colored specs – probably the memories of meeting Trey and Che’nya, but…after the memories were shown and I was in Riddle’s room…there were chains everywhere like a lavished dungeon.” Arisu explained. “We talked and I convinced him to set fire to it with the candle provided – I figured because fire is a cleansing element, that it would help. A-and it did, Riddle confirmed that he felt lighter now and just looking at him he’s more approachable now.”

Vil nodded and set his phone aside. “I just want to make sure I’m understanding correctly; you tried to venture into Rosehearts’ soul rooms twice. With both first attempts being failures that almost got you killed. You then were only able to successfully enter the soul room after he OB’d?” he watched as the first-year nodded “That would suggest that the event of overblotting forces them to take down their mental shields and make entering their soul room much easier at the cost of them becoming more physically aggressive in the real world.” He went back to typing. “Now then, how long does this usually last if you were to enter someone’s room right now.”

“I would estimate a minute at least.” Arisu replied. “It tends to last longer the more I stare into a person’s eyes – I know how that sounds, but it just happens, I could be talking to someone and then bam; soul room just because I looked into their eyes the one time and I have no clue how to make that stop.”

“That’s going to be one of our lessons is getting that spell under control.” Vil finished up and looked at him. “Arisu, look at me and tell me what you see.”

“Do I have to?” Arisu sighed before meeting his eyes with Vil’s “Okay, I see a castle throne room; there’s a candle on the table before the throne and it has a strong flame. You’re out in the open, there’s nothing blocking you nor am I seeing anything that needs to ‘clear up’ as far as I can see.”

“Hold up.” Riddle spoke up breaking their eye contact. “How are you able to see him clearly on the first try? I know Vil, he’s not that open with anything, there should be a barrier.”

“It’s likely due to the fact I’m willingly letting him inside.” Vil said. “I wonder…Arisu, was there anything in my hands; like a box or knife perhaps?”

Arisu nearly pushed away from the table “What the fuck!? Why those two things in particular!”

Vil shook his head, “Oh you precious first-year; you should understand by now that each of the dorm heads at this school shared a connection to one of the Great Seven however faint. Each of the Great Seven was also associated with one or two special items. For example, the Queen of Hearts with the crochet mallet and scepter or the Sea Witch with her shell necklace. The Beautiful Queen's items were a box and knife that were supposed to be used in the removal and preservation of the Fairest Princess's heart.” He laced his fingers together. “If you were to look inside Riddle’s room what would you see?”

Arisu looked in Riddle’s eyes for a few minutes. “Aside from the scepter, I’m seeing a lot of hedgehogs; I saw the scepter on our neutral ground picnic.” 

“Now come back to my room.” Vil ordered.

“Yes, my queen.” Arisu muttered as he looked back into those indigo eyes. “Okay, yeah you have a box and knife in hand.”

“Bloody or clean?” Vil watched Arisu’s eyes widen. “Answer me, Arisu, is there blood dripping from the box and knife, or are they clean?” his voice strained a little, as he balled his hands into fists.

The room was started to darken and the ground shook as walls prepared to rise; before Arisu could react, he flinched as though someone had struck him in the face. Both Vil and Riddle got up to check on him. He just looked up at them. 

“I was just kicked out.” He said softly. “Vil…”

“I’m sorry about that…it wasn’t intentional.” Vil sighed. “Please…tell me if you were able to see anything before that?”

“You were in the clear, both objects were cleaned.” Arisu assured, he watched as his senior relaxed and nodded in approval.

“What just happened?” Riddle demanded.

“The mind is a fickle thing, but we now know what makes the mental shields so trigger happy; he doesn’t just visit a person, he becomes a part of it.” He saw the confused daze. “To put it in simple terms; in normal circumstances, he needs to have some form of connection - be it positive or negative to be a part of it. Positive connections will give him easier access and ability to help the soul easier. Negative however, he’s seen as a threat and the other’s soul will try to keep him out – alive or dead, depending on who he’s around.” He wrote this down. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel like I have a headache.” Arisu winced. “I doubt that’s normal…”

“Your pen, hand it over.” Vil held his hand out. “Now.”

“Sheesh, do you have to be so demanding?!” he took it out and set it in his hand.

Vil looked over the jewel and scowled as he saw a familiar stain in the corner. “Good, you do have a limit but we are going to have to do something about that ability of yours; you said this happens when you look in a person’s eyes? I know it’ll be hard but try to look anywhere but the eyes…at least until we can find something solid to work with.” He returned the pen and stood up. “Now then, I know you and Riddle have your routine, but we’re changing that; starting tomorrow, I want you to come straight to Pomefiore in the morning so I may check you and your pen over, we’ll work on control – and bring that mangy cat of yours as well, I’m sick of looking at that scruffy fur of his!”

“And after class, you will resume your lessons with me.” Riddle finished for Vil. “And like he said, bring Grim for once, that unruly cat needs to learn manners.” 

“Riddle, have you ever owned a cat? Good luck teaching Grim a damn thing!”

“Regardless, you’re going through with this.” Riddle said. “And I mean it too.”

“Yes, Prefect Rosehearts.” Arisu sighed. “Prefect Schoenheit.”

*****

Visiting Pomefiore was another experience altogether, Grim’s eyes always lit up every time they would visit the grand dorm – a beautiful castle that would tower over them, bright and elegant in every sense of the word. They never visited much of the dorm that wasn’t Vil’s room or the ‘beauty parlor’ where Rook would work on Grim’s fur and tending to him while Vil worked with the strange blonde and the unique magic he had; they weren’t able to fully get him to stop staring into the eyes of others and Vil wasn’t about to use his magic to keep that from happening – but, they did find some alternative way and it took most of their mornings together up as well as the checkups, but in the end, they got something solid; condition Arisu to keep his eyes on other parts of the body or keep his gaze on something in the background. Healthwise, Arisu had been keeping up in his self-care, and during morning time they had been sharing breakfast time to time; alternating between the dorm and the dining hall – this had taken Arisu’s Heartslabyul friends by surprise (save for Riddle who would roll his eyes at the sight)

But today was a little different, it was a stormy morning and one thing after another Arisu had the worst luck; it got so bad that both prefects agreed that it was best to not do any of their daily routine with him. After school the two met in an empty classroom to discuss some progress between them and their peculiar mortal. Riddle was at one of the desks when Vil had come in, there was a silent conversation between them before the prefect of Pomefiore spoke up.

“I do have some good news and some bad news; which would you like to hear first?” 

Riddle looked up at him, “Let’s get the bad news out of the way first; I have some disturbing news myself.”

“Right, the first is Grim may look beautiful now with his fur shining but he’s still crude as ever.” Vil scoffed. “Anyway, Arisu’s unique magic, though could help someone from OB’ing, isn’t a guaranteed way to tell if such a fate will happen.”

“Because of the mental block.” Riddle supplied. “That would make intervening near impossible in that case since Arisu’s not close to everyone – save for the idiot duo, Trey, Cater, and myself; he could look at us and prevent it happening to us but everyone else views him as a stranger.”

“Hmm not true, I overheard Vanrouge saying how he would be able to carry on his original plan with the boy…so technically speaking, Arisu has a relation with him and would make it easy to enter his room.” Vil shook his head. “Then there’s Octavinelle, I’m actually worried about the trio – no doubt Arisu caught the attention of Azul and the twins, you know what those three are like when someone of interest comes their way.”

Riddle shuddered. “I’m still being harassed by Floyd because of it.” He looked up at him. “I’m going to take a safe guess and say those three are going to be a shaky read since they’re not friends and wouldn’t let him in so easily, but they’re not going to have a strong shield.”

“You would be correct, if I’m understanding correctly our student would probably hit a bubble wall to keep him from venturing further.” Vil looked at him. “Alright, let’s hear from you now.”

Riddle shook his head; “Studies have improved greatly – if he keeps this up, I’m seeing him in the top 50 in the distant future.” He said with pride. “Onto the disturbing news though; Headmaster Crowley up and lied in students’ faces.” He saw the surprised reaction and continued on. “He had called Ace, Deuce, Grim, and Arisu to his office to discuss the Overblot incident and how to prepare themselves as well as how to avoid such a fate. However, after the meeting he said that the stairs in the west wing were rotted as students have been falling from there quite a bit. Arisu then proceeded to jump on each step – not a single break, creak, or indication they were rotted in the first place.”

“Has the headmaster done anything else similar?” Vil asked.

“Not to my knowledge, but we’re hoping to investigate when we can – preferably when he wouldn’t suspect a thing.” 

“I’ll keep an eye on my students then, you should do the same.” He sighed. “Onto good news though; the black stain on Arisu’s pen hasn’t returned.”

“Let’s keep it that way, though…I fear the pen might not always be accurate; he’s more skilled in raw magic versus controlled.” Riddle reminded. “I had our school’s healer look him over just in case and…well it’s as you said, Arisu is healthy as ever with no stains.”

“Wonderful to hear.” Vil turned to leave. “Riddle, I think from here on out we back off from our routines; I’m not saying you can’t have Arisu over for afternoon tea, but we did what we could in regards of teaching him – I still aim to bring his full potential out, he’s a little pet project just like Felmier is – but, Unique Magic can only go so far with him.” He folded his hands. “Therefore, I suggest we observe in the shadows and write what he needs to work on and see if we can’t ‘convince’ people to help him in that field.”

Riddle chuckled. “Willingly handing off your student to another teacher? Why Vil, it sounds as if you have a heart now.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea Riddle, I’m not too fond of the idea myself.” Vil turned to look at him. “But even I can admit there are things Arisu could be capable of that I am unable to teach; I trust your judgement from here on out, but don’t think I won’t send one of my own to him to carry on for me.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less of you, Vil.” Riddle walked up to him. “The storm’s letting up, will you be fine getting to your dorm?”

“Always, take care Prefect Rosehearts, may our next meeting be a smooth one.” He walked out with him.


	10. The Dream Granter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While in the cool down period, Arisu meets another student and remembers Riddle's warnings
> 
> The Dream Granter: Umber's cover

It wasn’t everyday that someone could surprise Riddle; but having Idia sitting with them at their table was one of them as well as listening to the report Ace had given when the quartet came by with their food. Now, hearing about strange accidents wasn’t uncommon; it seemed that everyone from certain dorms were having an off day, they weren’t in critical conditions, but it was a little concerning. For the headmaster to lie and say the cause was from faulty steps – which, upon Arisu’s tests showed weren’t faulty in the slightest. This was becoming quite the mystery.

“He’s a strange case.” Riddle finally agreed. “From everything that had happened to the now, it’s almost as if he’s hiding something.” He crossed his arms. “However, we can’t really start anything unless we have something solid – and that does not mean start investigating right this second.” He watched Ace, Deuce, and Grim sulk. “Think about it, if you start now, he’s just going to amp up security to keep you in the dark, it’s best for the time being to go about our day as normal without raising suspicion.”

Cater was messing with his phone; “The headmaster’s never been like this before…” He shrugged. “Well, we’ll worry about it later, Ari-chan~ whatever happened to your original plan for dinner? You said you were going to take a break from the cafeteria?”

“I was, but then after that meeting with the headmaster…I felt it better to be with familiar faces.” Arisu shrugged. “Besides, I don’t know a damn thing about the place I wanted to visit so I decided to just scrap the new setting altogether.”

“The Monstro Lounge, right?” Cater brought up some pictures for him. “Great place, amazing food, underwater atmosphere.” He listed off. “Everything is high quality and their chefs are never the same…of course, that’s because most of the workers are from failed deals but those numbers are few and far in between.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well~ The prefect of Octavinelle is something else; shady, articulate, greedy as heck, I suppose in civilian terms he’s a savvy businessman, he can grant your deepest desires!” Cater grinned. “For a price of course, and if you fail to uphold your end of the deal…well, as I said the chefs and servers are never the same~” he patted his back. “Don’t be discouraged! Some of them are there of their own will to raise money for shopping! Cay-kun’s worked there for a few weeks to save up for the rose gold crown charm!” he showed off his cellphone charm. “Isn’t it cute~”

Well that further confirms what he heard in the halls. Arisu nodded and thought for a bit, working at the lounge did seem like a good idea and he could use the money to buy his own food as well as Grim’s tuna stash – sure he had some money wired from his family, but, he still wanted to earn his own and he had his doubts that the Headmaster was going to pay him for the errands he sent him on. The flip side of the coin was that the prefect’s offer to make desires come true sounded too good to be such; there had to be something that worked in his favor rather than the client’s. He would have to check the place out at a later date, right now he wanted to be around his friends; there was never a boring day with them – heck, he and Riddle were getting closer now and he was eager to call the Heartslabyul Prefect a good friend! Trey and Cater were still in their own league, but like with Riddle, he found himself enjoying their company. Ace and Deuce…well, he’s been used to them since their first day together; there were times Ace would alternate between his name and the Alice nickname, but he found the nickname endearing and decided to let him keep calling him that. Heck, it was because of those two that’s going to make it impossible to leave for break; he wanted to be with them for a while longer even after the school term ended.

Him wishing that prompted Ace to stop talking with Deuce and giving a mischievous smile, he pounced and hugged him before saying that they had to show more love to keep Arisu with them forever. Deuce took some time convincing from Cater who wasted no second in joining the hug pile. Riddle and Trey just scolded them for the act whereas Idia just simply said “I see him enough at family meetups, keep him.” Caring cousin 101. The commotion continued on for a few more minutes before Arisu ended the shenanigans by inviting the group to his dorm for a movie night – a little last minute, but after everything from today, they could use some mindless fun; the group agreed and Idia said he would bring Ortho to join in (which meant that R rated movies were off the table…of course, he did find a loophole with Snakes on a Plane; a film that was originally going to be PG-13 but got the R rating when they added a certain line towards the end). 

The ghosts weren’t expecting guests, but they were fine with the movie night idea when Arisu invited them to join them. Fortunately for everyone, the Ramshackle dorm had new furniture in the lounge as well a wide-screen TV in place. The dorm still needed to be renovated entirely, but it was a start and it was better than nothing. With a quick arrangement of cushions and blankets the group spent that night watching movies from Snakes on a Plane (“It’s only R rated because of one swear, Idia!”) to the Mask of Zorro to even the cheesy musical that was Little Shop of Horrors. This went on until it was close to ten p.m. when curfew was about to take place; Arisu saw the Heartslabyul quintet off and wished them a good night before wishing Idia and Ortho a good night as well. He decided to do cleaning later and went upstairs with a tired Grim hanging off his shoulder. Sometime he had to wonder if owning a cat was this troublesome.

Paron took Grim off him and settled him in the cat bed so Arisu could climb into bed. Lately, the dreams hadn’t really been happening as much so he was grateful for that; except tonight where he had dreamt that he was with animals and watching a baby lion being held up for all to see. Aside from that dream, nothing really has been sparking and causing him to stress out…except Passe came in and informed him that it was going to be a storm today. Literally. A stormy morning was the perfect way to start things off. At least he had an umbrella for him and Grim to hide under while they rushed to their classes.

This. Was. Not. A. Storm!

Harsh winds blowing, heavy rainfall, the umbrella was useless and by the time he and Grim got into the school they looked like drowned rats. The only blessing they had was that their schoolwork was fine and dried, but that was just about it. With a sigh, he just changed his shoes and dragged himself to History class, beside him was a familiar lavender-haired boy from the tea party. He was too tired to deal with him, he hardly reacted at all.

“You don’t go to school here.” Arisu said in a blunt tone.

Che’nya grinned. “No, but you do~” he looked him over. “Hmm~ You two look like you’ve seen better days.” He snapped his fingers and dried them off. “There we go~”

Grim grinned and puffed his fur out. “You’re alright, weirdo! But, why are you here?”

“You expect me to be out in the rain?” He held his heart. “You’re so cruel.” His grin returned a few seconds later. “Ah, but as for why I’m here; I suppose you can say that I’m here to help you. You really think your encounter with an Overblot Riddle is the only trial you’re going to face? Sorry Alice~ a new law reigns in this Wonderland, you best be on your guard.” He bowed and vanished from sight.

“He’s so weird, what did he mean?” Grim looked at him.

“No idea.” Arisu continued to the classroom. “I know I’d rather get to class before-”

**Ding.**  
**Dong.**  
**Ding.**

“Before what…Mr. Shai?” Mr. Trein’s cold voice rang out. “I do believe I’ve made it clear I don’t tolerate lateness of any sort, that include being one second late.” His cold gaze narrowed. “You and Grim are to stay after class.”

“Y-Yes sir.” The two said before dragging themselves to their seats.

The rest of the day was just going downhill from there.

*****

Arisu sighed as he dragged himself to the mirror chamber; everything was going wrong today no matter how small. Alchemy ended with him getting caught in an accident – his once golden hair was now white and would be like this for a week at least (or until Master Crewel brews an antidote for this), gym class ended with a dodge ball to the face and he was sent to the infirmary with a bloody nose, lunch…well it was best he didn’t think about it. Right now, after a long day of classes and makeup work, he just wanted to get through dinner and just pass out at his dorm. He decided since the day was against him as is, he would just go to the mysterious Monstro Lounge, it couldn’t be that bad and he’d rather take his risk than face another cafeteria incident (one he’d refuse to remember).

Entering the mirror and entering the enchanted underwater dorm, Arisu felt himself stare in awe; the Octavinelle dorm being underwater was an amazing feeling. He swam to the entrance and felt himself magically dry off upon entering the dorm. This was starting to become his new favorite aesthetic! Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad after all, he just needed a new change of his routine and everything would come together in the end. He took in the dorm’s atmosphere as he followed a sign pointing the way to the Monstro Lounge, the closest to being underwater he’s experienced was at his local aquarium. Here, everything was so bright with the grey couches, light purple wallpaper, and the entire room being lit up with seaweed lamps and the octopi chandeliers! He took a quick picture and made his way down the hall to the Monstro Lounge.

It was different than the dorm’s lounge; for one, the atmosphere had an elegant feeling to it and the lighting was dimmed. It didn’t seem so busy at the moment; he was starting to worry that they were closed and he would be intruding, he was about to leave until he heard voices from another room. Arisu was taught not to eavesdrop but…just like Alice, he let curiosity get the best of him. He made his way over and pressed close to listen in to see what was being said.

 **“I've got to say, it's been a pleasure working with you; but it seems your payment is a bit overdue.”** The first voice had a smooth tone to him, a grin was heard in his voice. 

The second was more fearful; “Please, just give me more time! I-I swear I’ll get the photograph!” they begged.

A soft hum from the first voice. **“I could have mercy and give you just a tad more time to pay the fee.”** He was relishing in the second student’s distress **“Though, where would be the fun in that, after all I have more who want their dreams.”**

With a snap of his fingers the student was heard screaming before he was pulled towards the door. Arisu hurried away from the scene to avoid getting hit, he watched as a student was pulled by…an anemone on his head? He barely got to see much of the student before they were dragged to the kitchen. He turned to the room where they came from and saw three individuals walk out; he recognized Floyd – or…at least one of the two were Floyd, they were twins. The one in the center had slivery-blue, wavy hair under the fedora that the twins also wore, his silvery-blue eyes were behind a pair of silver glasses, he even had a beauty mark bellow his lips. In his hand was a black cane with a silver octopus handle. 

“You would think that people would learn, the bigger the wish is the bigger the payment is.” He sighed and shook his head; the sour mood died the moment he saw Arisu staring at them. With a grin he walked over to him, “Ah! **Welcome, welcome, come on in!”** he invited him over to a booth, **“Put down your stuff and that violin.”** The twins took Arisu’s school bag and went to put it somewhere safe. **“Are you lost? You need some food? How can I help you?”** he snapped his fingers to call a server over.

Arisu reluctantly sat down and watched as someone came over with a basket of bread rolls and a menu; unlike the previous student, this one didn’t have an anemone on their head. They were definitely here on their free-will like Cater had said; he did say that the numbers of ‘failed contracts’ were few and far between. 

“You do look like you’ve had a horrible day so far.” The silver-head said. “Come now, what’s wrong?”

“Just one of those days.” Arisu assured him. “Uh…I might not have enough on hand for something extravagant.”

“Don’t worry about it, consider it a first-customer’s discount” he smiled. “Of course, this is a one-time offer so if I were you, I wouldn’t let this go to waste.”

“Right, I’ll go with lobster bisque?” Arisu smiled sheepishly. “And maybe chocolate strawberry brownies for dessert?”

“Coming right away, good sir.” He grinned and nodded to the server to get the order started. “So, what brings you to our little lounge?”

“I overheard some students talk about this place, I’ve been meaning to try the food here in case I got sick and tired of the cafeteria food.” Arisu explained as he grabbed one of the rolls. “…But I also heard some things about you, that you could grant any wish someone asks of you?”

 **“Oh, oh, oh, what's this? You've heard about me? Tell me the gist”** He leaned on the cane and grinned at him. **“They say that I can make dreams come true? Well, that's simply gossip spewed.”** There was a glint in his eyes as he said that. **“But, between you and me, if you wanna know the truth, then put the roll down and listen closely. I can make dreams reality”**

“You can make dreams a reality?” Arisu repeated. “But you don’t do it for free, do you? There’s always a catch with spells like yours.” He was taken by surprise when the other placed a gloved hand over his mouth.

 **“Hush now, hush now keep it hush! I don't need the teachers making a fuss.”** He pulled back and chuckled. **“Oh, I haven't introduced myself, so here's my name and what I am about.”** Taking off his hat and putting it over his chest before taking a bow, he promptly introduced himself.

 **“My name's Azul Ashengrotto; and for a simple, tiny fee, you can get anything you wish! From money to everlasting glory.”** He stood up and brought forth a golden contract that floated before Arisu, he laid a hand on his shoulder and grinned down at him. **“Just sing the contract with your name, stain the paper with black ink.”** He chuckled when Arisu rejected the contract and the pen provided to him. “Ah, settle down…I wouldn’t make you sign a blank contract.”

“I don’t sign anything without reading the fine print.”

 **“Ah good! The contract would be sealed! As for the tiny fee...”** Azul returned his hat on his head and tilted it down in a serious manner. **“Offer me your power, your special skills.”** He narrowed his eyes at the boy’s wide-eyed expression. **“What did you think the fee was going to be?”** he scoffed as the other sputtered a response out. **“Don't act so shocked, one must entrust me their every whim; or else they will play the part.”** He sat across from Arisu and folded his hands together. “After all, collateral must be given for a simple request; I don’t ask for much, just what is appropriate for every kind of wish. The bigger the wish, the greater the payment. I’m sure even you would understand.”

So, this is what Cater meant when he said there were some failed contracts. There were people who asked for something ridiculous and payed the price for it. Arisu kept his gaze on Azul, even after his food was brought to him; he didn’t want to take his eyes off the other – call it trust issues, but that calm expression was anything but settling. The twins had come up to Azul and one whispered something to him that caused his eyes to shine. He grinned at Arisu before standing up.

“Ah, pardon me, I have another customer to deal with.” He strode over to the entrance, and like before Arisu strained his hearing to listen in. **“Welcome, welcome, come on in! Put down your stuff, put on a grin.”** The twins once again took the school bag to put it somewhere as Azul guided the student to a booth – specifically the one Arisu was sitting at, he was going to make a show out of this. **“Are you lost? You need some food? Oh, once again it's you!”** his grin widened at the student.

Judging by the uniform, Arisu was able to deduce he was from Pomefiore, the student just nodded at Azul. “Yeah, and I’m ending this contract! You were asking the impossible from me!”

Azul tilted his head at that. **“Oh, oh, oh, what's this? You wanna talk? Well, tell me the gist.”** He shoved the student in the seat across from Arisu. **“You say you want out of the contract? You can't bring yourself to steal for me?”**

“Whoa what do you mean ‘steal for you!’ What the hell kind of contract did you make?!” Arisu demanded.

“I…I wanted to impress my fellow dormmates!” The student stammered out. “My dorm master was asking for impossible beauty and etiquette standards and Azul said he’d help me! I didn’t think the cost would be to steal from a museum!” 

Azul just tutted at him. **“Oh honestly, you humans make me sick. You blindly sign to feed your greed while forgetting nothing's ever free.”** He watched as the student tried protesting against it, and like with Arisu, he covered his mouth. **“Hush now, hush now keep it hush, I don't want the teachers making a fuss.”** He pulled away and held up the student’s contract, narrowing his eyes at him. **“You should have read the contract clearly you had three days to fetch me that picture.”**

“You’re asking someone to steal something from a museum!” Arisu yelled. “His life could be ruined if he had been caught, that was unfair of you to ask; Azul!” 

**“I know it may seem cruel; I know I'm being cold.”** Azul lifted Arisu’s chin in his hand so they were eye to eye. **“But human minds are frail, so what's the harm in using them for me.”** He chuckled and turned back to the student. **“I've gotta say, it's been a pleasure working with you; but it seems your payment is a bit overdue.”** His grin grew. **“I could have mercy and give you just a tad more time to pay the fee, though, where would be the fun in that? After all I have more who want their dreams.”**

“You…You’re a demon!” The Pomefiore student cried. “There’s no way anyone could do this! Just who the hell do you think you are!”

Azul chuckled and flashed a toothy grin at him, adjusting his glasses some. “It’s as I told our guest here; **My name is Azul Ashengrotto and for a simple, tiny fee you can get anything you wish as long as you can pay the fee!”** he brought up the contract and laid it for them to read. **“Just sing the contract with your name, and be prepared to steal promptly, stain your heart with the memory with just the tiny fee.”** He grabbed the Pomefiore student by the upper arm and narrowed his eyes at him. “ **Bring me that photograph; those before you, they never knew until the deal was sealed.”** He pulled him from the booth and let go of him. **“You failed your part, now you must impart me your every whim.”** A wicked smile was on his face. **“Your freedom will do perfectly”** and just like the previous student, Azul snapped his fingers and an anemone appeared on the student’s head before dragging him off.

The twins mockingly waved the student off as they were forcefully pulled to the kitchen. Azul chuckled and looked back to Arisu with a sickening-sweet smile on his face “Now then, would you like a replacement for your food? I’m sure it’s cold by now.”

Arisu was frozen and pale; he just silently shook his head and just wolfed down the now cold bisque before taking the brownie to go. “I…should probably get going anyway. I have to write an essay for Mr. Crewel and…Yeah.”

“Of course, grades are important, Mr. Shai.” He chuckled. “Don’t look surprise, I was at the entrance ceremony chasing that unruly cat that followed you; you have quite a reputation about you, a curious one to say the least.” He held his chin and tilted his head back so they were eye to eye one more time. “Do keep me and the twins entertained, will you?” He let go and watched as he hurried out of the lounge, taking his bag from Floyd in the process.

Floyd grinned and returned to Azul’s side; “Damselfish is something else.”

“Indeed, he is.” Jade walked up. “Shall we keep our eye on him?”

“Most definitely, and see if you can’t get him to take a shift here…He deserves to pay for his own things without the headmaster’s interference.” Azul nodded. “Ah…one more thing, what’s this I hear about accidents happening on campus?”

“That…we’re still trying to figure out, as of now it’s just students falling down the stairs.” Jade said. “Not too far, everyone seems to lose their balance the second they reach the fourth step from the ground.”

“I see…any relations to the students?”

The twins shook their heads. Well, that was a dead end. If this kept up they would be without potential staff members here at the lounge, perhaps this was something to bring to the Headmaster after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I refuse to believe Epel was the only simp that was sent to Pomefiore, a dorm outside his wheelhouse. There had to be others who were like the foul-mouthed baby who doesn't get the fine dining and fineness of life. 
> 
> Nor, do I believe that Azul only asked MC to try stealing the picture from the Atlantica museum. I assume there were students who were asking for something grand and...well it's as Azul said "The Bigger the wish, the Bigger the Price" He had to have asked others to try before the Octavinelle Chapter happened.


	11. What's My Name/Investigation Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> French Sucks. I don't want to write it anymore  
> It's 10:37 pm and my medication are kicking in  
> Special thanks to my friends who helped with this!
> 
> Song: What's My Name - Descendants

With August gone, comes September. With the fall season here, it meant a prime time for seasonal sports like football – or if you’re in Twisted Wonderland, the seasonal sport is Magical Shift. And that brought Arisu to the now; the dorm leaders were dressed up in the ceremonial robes and were meeting with the headmaster, the very same headmaster that had forced him to attend this meeting by holding the Ramshackle dorm’s maintenance over his head; Dire was playing a dangerous game here, one that Arisu was debating if making a phone call to Lilia would be worth it or not (though, if Malleus’ word was anything to go off of Crowley would continue to pull stunts like this even after the ancient faerie chewed him out. May be best not to bother). 

The topic of this meeting was on the upcoming Magical Shift tournament, dorms would be putting up their best players for the scouts to observe and offer a spot on some local teams for it; ideas for signs up were given by Azul, he seemed tamer here than he was back at the Monstro Lounge. Prefect Schoenheit mentioned something about a makeup tent for the Pomefiore players – there was so much to unpack from that sentence alone, it may be best to not question about it. When it came to what Ramshackle had in mind; Arisu had to bluntly remind everyone that by definition he only had five players – himself, Grim, and the Three Ghosts. If anything, he would do a face painting stall for the kids that would show up. The room just stared and went silent, he did have a point that his dorm was short by two members…there really wasn’t much to go off of on that.

“I…suppose being short two players would be a hinderance.” Crowley said. “Which is why I thought up of this solution; I was thinking about having Malleus Draconia, become a member of the Hall of Fame so as he should only make a special appearance.” Crowley smiled. “However, as Ramshackle is down two players, I may have him transfer over to help even the field.” 

Malleus shook his head. “While I wouldn’t be opposed to being on Arisu’s team, this is a horrible idea.” That sentence alone sparked similar responses from the others, not a whole lot of people were on board with the transfer.

“Transfer Draconia to Ramshackle to balance out the players? Fuck no.” Prefect Kingscholar snapped. “By that logic we may as well move Rook from Pomefiore over to Ignihyde so their team doesn’t suck!”

“I’m going to keep that comment in mind, you mangy cat.” Idia’s voice came from the tablet. “Do not underestimate my dorm.”

“On a similar note, why the fuck are you putting the lizard in the Hall of Fame?” Kingscholar demanded

“Well…ever since Draconia entered the school, all the dorms that have competed against Diasomnia have faced utter defeat without so much as scoring a point. They’ve always scored more than 100 points in any tournament, and 9% of those are scored by him alone.” Dire explained. “Which is why we can have him as an honorary Ramshackle player or in the Hall of Fame.”

“Absolutely not.” Arisu snapped. “If my dorm is going to compete, I’d rather have players who show dedication. I’m not just going to take another dorm’s powerhouse to compensate numbers; it would be an unfair advantage.” He crossed his arms. “If Malleus wants to join my dorm _**willingly**_ then I won’t object, but he is not joining just because you told him to as the Headmaster.”

Dire just nodded. “I suppose the decision is up to the Savanaclaw dorm.” He turned to Kingscholar, “You have the greatest number of players who are aiming to be in the professional league and your dorm has never fallen behind third place in any of the tournaments ever since the school was founded. And yet…for the past two years, you have only managed to play in the first game against Diasomnia, not to mention, you’ve never won. You won’t be able to make an impression on the professional board this way, your team’s future is at stake, too.”

What the fuck? Arisu just stared at the headmaster with his jaw to the ground; Kingscholar was just as irritated from that. Arisu was held back by the hood, he looked up and saw Malleus shaking his head at him, silently telling him not to do anything stupid.

“The King of Beasts managed to become king because of effort and wisdom.” Leona shot a look to their mortal member in a silent warning before continuing. “Use your heads and think of a way to win against that monster, too! If you manage to win, the whole world might just praise you as well. Are you really going to let this chance get away?”

Vil hummed and nodded. “He does make great points sometimes; I was about to say the suggestion was nonsense as well. Excluding the people with talent is considered unconscious bias, I disagree with that notion – as well as I also disagree with the notion of sending Draconia to another team.”

“I agree with Vil-senpai’s and Arisu’s opinion. The whole point of Magical Shift is to show off your individual skills and wits, not to ride on the coat tails of someone else – having Draconia in Ramshackle would make people pity Arisu and his team and find them incapable of being able to play by their own merits.” Riddle crossed his arms. “Furthermore, running from a battle by having a powerful adversary set aside without trying is a disgrace.”

“I see…very well, next year he’ll be inducted as my condition for letting him compete this year.” Dire said firmly.

“Very well.” Malleus nodded. “I wish the rest of you luck this year.”

With the meeting coming to a close, Arisu just made his way back to his dorm as did most of the other prefects and the headmaster. The only people left in the Mirror Chamber were Leona, Vil, Riddle, and Malleus. The four stood there staring each other down in a silent conversation before Vil spoke up.

“Care to explain the hostile attitude just now?” he demanded. 

Leona scoffed. “The headmaster was being a stupid fuck, what more is there?”

“When hasn’t he said stupid stuff?” Riddle asked. “He convinced Ace and Deuce to challenge me for the role of prefect…” his gaze softened a little. “Wait…Leona, were the headmaster’s words indirectly related to Fare-”

A sharp growl came from the beastman. “Don’t…compare the now to him.”

Vil shook his head. “Leona, you know we think you two are completely different yet equal in power.” He spoke up. “Please, talk to us, we can’t help if you don’t talk to us.”

"I don't need help! I'm not some runty cub who needs to be saved from a stampede of wildebeest" Leona said talking a step back so he could lean against a nearby wall and glower at the other males.

"Leona, no man is an island. We do not believe that you need to be saved, we only want to keep you from going over the edge of no return. I care deeply for you, as do Vil and Riddle. You need to trust us" Malleus said staring intently at the beastman.

"Bullshit, you're just trying to deflect from the fact I was right and that I called you out for being a monster" Leona snapped trying to goad the Dragon-fae into making a move.

Riddle crossed his arms. “Very well, we’ll back off for now, but you need to do something about that aggression…take it from someone who’s been down that road, if you let this fester, you’ll enter a place of no return.”

"Pfft, that’s so like you. Running away with your tail between your legs small fry" Leona said now trying to take a go at Riddle who in the past would have been so easily provoked by the insult. However, the redhead merely took a deep breath even as his cheeks turned a bright red.

"That's enough Leona, you are starting to go a bit too far" Vil said taking a step towards the beastman with a deep frown. Malleus and Riddle followed suit slowly but surely closing the distance between them and the lion.

Leona stared resolutely at the approaching trio, before the lights in the hall began to flicker and the shadows on the walls twisted into something new. The shades of the three prefects contorted into hideous, hungry monsters and began to close in for the kill. The beastman's eyes went wide with growing terror as glowing green, violet, and slate eyes stared him down. Out of opinions he lunged at one of the monsters determined to escape with his life.

Riddle was frozen with fear as Leona leapt at him, claws out and teeth bared. He should have been able to cast a spell to protect himself but terror had turned his body to stone. Fortunately for the redhead, his compatriots did not suffer the same affliction as Malleus stepped in front of him, blocking the beastman's attack but suffering a bad slash to his arm before he was able to wrap his tail around Leona to restrain him.

"What in Great Seven was that for?" Vil said in a startled hiss before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a handkerchief to wrap Malleus's arm but the draconic-fae's wounds bleed right through fabric prompting him to remove the top layer of his ceremonial robe and the gold-clasped belt that went with it to use as a tourniquet for the other male's injuries. Behind Malleus, Riddle finally regained control of his limbs and fell backwards onto his rear with his mouth agape and his eyes still wide with fear.

Leona blinked a few times, as the lights returned so did his grip on reality and he gazed at the three other prefects with a guilty expression. Freeing himself from Malleus's grasp he turned on his heel and sprinted away from the scene without a single glance back. As soon as the beastman was out of view, the draconic-fae sunk to the ground and leaned his head against a nearby wall. Vil pulled out his phone and sent a quick message to Rook to alert the school nurse that some students were in need of medical aid asap before putting the phone away. He carefully sat down on the floor and wrapped an arm around Riddle and Malleus encouraging them to lean against him while they waited for help to arrive.

“Malleus.” Vil looked up the faerie.

The prince gently shushed him and smiled. “It’ll take a lot more than a scratch to take me down.” He took Vil’s hand into his. “I’m just in a slight state of shock.”

“Exactly why we’re going to see Dr. Crane.” Vil huffed. “Riddle?” he turned to the redhead.

“Physically, I’m fine.” He said softly. “Leona’s had moods before but he’d never attack like that…”

"But mentally and emotionally are you doing alright? I've never seen you freeze like that; you usually glare down adversity and act quickly" Vil said pressing on a little.

"I... I... I don’t know, all those other times before I was always processing emotions through a filter. I wasn't scared because nothing could be worse than failing my mother's expectations of me. But now... I feel unguarded and I'm not sure what to do" Riddle admitted turning his face to hide it against Vil's body.

A few minutes later help arrived, Malleus and Riddle were carted off to the infirmary with Vil being forced to also go despite his protests that he was fine.

As this was going on in the infirmary, Arisu had made his way back to Ramshackle, he greeted the ghosts and Grim and told them that his first prefect meeting went well – after all, him showing was the only solid way of keeping Crowley to continue renovating the place, even it was little at a time. He relayed what was discussed and watched as Grim was going on about his next delusion of grandeur; he just kept quiet and watched him run around with excitement. Of course, he did gently remind him that until they get two players, they would most likely be running a face painting stall. It wasn’t as exciting, but doing this meant money and Grim was excited about that – more tuna and delicious food to buy if they did this! (“My human is such a genius coming up with this idea!”).

Smiling, Arisu took his sketchbook out and started out some sample ideas; he thought about doing simplified crests for each of the dorms and what would be affiliated with the Great Seven. Grim sat on the couch and watched like a typical cat, his forked tail swaying as he watched his human draw the Heartslabyul crest as well as some hedgehogs and flamingos. Speaking of that dorm, as on schedule, Ace and Deuce charged into Ramshackle and pounced Arisu from behind; unlike their usual cheerful selves, they were mostly in a panic state, it took a while to get Ace and Deuce to start talking like normal people but he finally got them to calm down.

“Guys, what’s wrong?” Arisu asked. “Forget to do the history assignment?”

“Who cares about the assignment! Prefect Rosehearts is in the infirmary!” Ace cried.

That was enough for Arisu to throw his sketchbook aside and run after his friends to the infirmary. It was one thing seeing Riddle in the infirmary, but it was another thing seeing Vil there holding him and seeing Malleus having his arm stitched up. Quietly, Arisu approached the trio and looked up at them in silent worry; Malleus used his good arm to reach out and took his hand into his, assuring his Sunflower that everything was fine. Ace and Deuce were beside Riddle, Grim was on top of the redhead and purring against him, Riddle smiled and shook his head as he petted Grim.

“What exactly happened?” Grim asked.

Vil just hummed. “We just had an…accident is all.” He assured. “I’m sorry, but this is between us.” 

Arisu looked over at Riddle. “We respect that, but…are you guys okay?”

“We’ll be fine.” Malleus spoke up. “Physically at least, Little Queen might need more attention though.” He gently nudged Arisu to him. 

Riddle just shot a small scowl at Malleus before turning to Arisu and allowed him to sit beside him and Vil for the time being. “Aside from us, how are things on your end? Are you still going to do a face painting stall?”

Arisu shrugged. “It’s as I said, unless two players willingly join, I will be doing face painting.” He saw the shine in Ace’s and Deuce’s eyes. “…It looks like I’m going to join Magical shift after all.”

“Oh? Are you sure that’s a wise idea?” A new voice said. All eyes were on the newcomer, Che’nya was sitting in the window looking over at the group. “It would be in your best interest to just go back to your idea of face painting, it’s safer that way. Alice wouldn’t get hurt and her card royalty won’t have to worry about her safety.”

“Oy! Listen you RSA punk, if this is your version of threatening our friend you have another thing coming.” Ace was ready to pounce.

Che’nya laughed and grinned. “Threaten dear Alice? I would never!” he held up a bag. “But I did bring gifts for Alice and her friends!” he tossed it over to Deuce. “From your friendly Alchemi~”

Neck braces. The group stared at the neck braces inside the bag before turning to Che’nya who was chuckling at their reactions.

“Ah~ You’re confused?” his grin grew and his teeth were showing. “Someone is after opposing players, that someone will want you out of the picture.” He walked up to them and bowed down to look at Arisu in the eyes. “Now that you will be competing, you’re going to be a walking target. It’s not too late to stay as a face painter, Arisu…”

“I’ll burn that bridge when I get there.” Arisu said. “Thank you for the warning, Che’nya, we’ll keep it in mind.”

“Anything for the Queen’s beloved~” He stood and vanished. “I have classes to get to, tata~”

“Is that weirdo’s always like that?” Ace sighed. 

Riddle shook his head. “You have no idea.” He crossed his arms. “Che’nya has always been a strange one, but I can’t really blame him – he has a way of knowing when something is going to happen.” 

Upon saying that, two Heartslabyul students were brought into the infirmary, one looked like he had a terrible fall due to the scratches and bruises starting to form. In a morbid way, this just confirmed what Che’nya said about someone targeting players.

Riddle stood up and made his way over to the group; “Harlan, Tarrant.” He stopped before them; worry was in his eyes. “What on earth happened?” 

Tarrant looked away, “We don’t get it either, I was just talking with him and next thing I knew, I fell down the stairs.”

Harlan nodded. “He didn’t trip or slipped on anything! It was like his body just moved on its own.”

Arisu walked up behind Riddle and spoke up, “Is there anyone you can think of who might have a grudge against you?” the two students shook their heads. 

Riddle nodded. “I see, thank you for your cooperation, please take care you two.”

“We’ll be fine, Prefect Rosehearts.” Harlan said. “Ah! Prefect, is…everything okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m actually here to ensure my friend is doing well.” Riddle took Arisu back to the group.

Since Malleus’ arm was fine, the small group left the infirmary to talk; the situation was clear enough, it was one thing for accidents to happen on the stairs but another when the headmaster lied about the cause, even more of a thing when students are still falling off the stairs and acting like they were being controlled. The plan between them was a simple one; one small group would start investigating the accidents, one person would stay behind in the infirmary in case other students came in, and one small group would interrogate the headmaster.

Arisu, Ace, Deuce, and Grim immediately started out; Vil left with Riddle towards the headmaster’s office, and Malleus stayed behind to watch over the new students. It was an unusual setup, but they made it work (even if Harlan and Tarrant were on edge by being around the Thorn Prince himself).

And just like with the Heartslabyul students, Arisu’s group were met with a similar story – except this time, they actually got to witness it. The problem being with a full class it was hard to see who was targeting at them and who was working on their cauldrons; what they didn’t have a problem seeing was the two Pomefiore students moving against their will like puppets and adding something to the cauldron that caused a nasty explosion; the end result being their faces got splashed with whatever the mixture was and left a nasty burn on their faces. In the midst of the panic, Divus used a silencing spell to keep the students quiet as he rushed over to the wounded students to assess the damage. He ordered the class to shape up and clean their stations before leaving and that class would be ending early. That…didn’t entirely help the case all that much, with everyone moving and putting things away and cleaning out their cauldrons; it was hard to get a good look at the lab stations to see if there was anything unusual or not. A dead end. Letting their shoulders drop, the group decided to head back to the Ramshackle dorm and try to figure out the next game plan (As well as get some game practice in, no sense in joining the tournament if they weren’t going to bring their a-game). So far, what they learned leading up to this was that the cause was being a controlling spell – that didn’t narrow the field as there were various forms of it.

Paron was by a corkboard with notecards pinned in place, it had what they knew so far; the victims were being controlled and each victim was a player for Magical Shift. He was playing with a pen in thought, there had to be more but what…

“Well, I have nothing!” Grim shouted. “I give up, quit without saving!” he flopped on the couch.

“Lazy cat.” Ace muttered. “We’re on the right track, we just need something to put us in the right direction.”

They didn’t have to wait long; as they were about to discuss their next move, Cater came bursting through the door. Trey had an accident on the stairs, a busted leg it looked like. Worried for their friend, the group left and followed Cater back to the Heartslabyul dorm to check on him; the good news was that Trey was doing alright, and it was a minor fracture. The bad news was that minor fracture or not, he was going to be on a crutch for a good month to heal, he’s one of Heartslabyul’s star players!

Star player. A light went on inside Ace’s head, he nudged Arisu and nodded in silent to him, they had the final piece they needed for this mystery. The previous incidents were just the warmups before the main show! The gesture didn’t go unnoticed by the dorm head, Riddle crossed his arms and demanded to know what Ace was scheming this time around. Deuce had to assure him that there weren’t any devious schemes going on, but they were on a mission by the headmaster to figure out the cause of the accidents. It seemed that Riddle was on the same page, after some of his dorm members were hurt, he had Cater do some searching of his own and came up with a list of potential victims for the culprit to go after. Everyone on the list, including Trey and Riddle, were star players. This was the lead they needed! It was time to begin their investigation yet again. And with teaming up for now, they could watch Riddle and keep him from getting attacked again.

Starting with Rook Hunt, Vil’s vice; the new group consisting of Riddle, Ace, Deuce, Cater, Grim, and Arisu went over to the hall of mirrors. Entering the Pomefiore mirror, they were greeted to the pristine palace-like dorm in all its splendor and beauty. They pulled themselves from the beauty and made their way into the dorm where they were greeted to a small tea party between Vil, Rook, and Epel.

Vil looked over and set his cup down before going over to the group. “I heard about what happened to Trey, is he alright?”

Riddle nodded. “He’s fine, it’s only a minor fracture.” He cleared his throat.

"I know that look, you're about to say something that’s going to make me get worried over you again" Vil said the corners of his mouth pulled down into a frown. 

"We think that the mystery assailant is going after the star players of various dorms" Riddle said with a sigh. "Which means you are in danger of an accident in that case"

Vil hummed and nodded. “Though it’s a high risk for someone to attack on another dorm’s grounds and get away with it, I suppose the smart thing would be if we stayed as a group.” He turned around. “I’ll get an overnight bag and then we’ll carry on the investigation.”

Before Vil could take a step, Rook immediately jumped to his feet and pulled Vil behind him before shooting an arrow through the window. There was a small growl in the distance before the sound of someone running off, narrowing his emerald eyes, he turned to the group.

“I’ll be accompanying you on the hunt, Roi du Roses.”   
  
“With that said.” Cater started off. “We should probably head off and talk to the other star players so they can be on their guard in case something happens.” He pulled up the list on his phone. “Let’s start with the Leech twins.”

That was probably one of the easier said than done moments; after helping Vil and Rook clean up the tea party setup, they started off on locating the twins. The thought made Riddle cringe and shuddered at the thought of running into them

“Ahh~ the Goldfish is here.” Floyd had pounced and held onto Riddle from behind. “And he’s brought a school with him.” His smile was a bit forced.

Sure enough, upon finding them in the courtyard of the school; Floyd had pounced the moment he saw Riddle. Despite seeing the twins before, he wouldn’t get over how tall they really were – heck, Ace, Epel, and Deuce were surprised at how tall and lanky they were. Cater had confirmed that they were skilled in tactician plays and that it was hard to get around them (Ace could confirm since Floyd was in the same basketball club as him). 

Riddle growled at the other holding him. “Unhand me, Floyd!” he struggled and shoved him off him before putting distance between them. “We’re here to ask you and your brother some questions!”

“Oh?” Jade tilted his head at that. “Whatever could be bothering you, Prefect Rosehearts?”

Vil walked up to them. “We’re looking into the accidents of the Magical Shift players; you two are prime candidates of being targeted by the culprit.”

“Interesting, let us assure you that we’re fine.” Jade assured. “Surely you know how twins work? Target one and the other retaliates.” He had a grin. “By the way, we’ll be stopping by your dorm with a ‘get well soon’ basket for Trey.”

“You stay away from him.” Riddle snapped. “We don’t need another saboteur on the prowl.”

“Goldfish~ you’re being mean now!” Floyd hugged Riddle again. “We would never hurt him!”

“I ALREADY TOLD YOU TO UNHAND ME ONCE, FLOYD!”

Arisu got between them. “Uh, thank you for helping. We’ll be on our way – think you could let us know if anything pops up?”

Floyd grinned at him and lifted his chin. “For Goldfish’s little Damselfish? Of course, We’ll keep our eyes open for you!”

What did they learn when it came to twins? If you go after one, the other will retaliate. Cater just crosses Jade and Floyd off the list of potential victims. The sun was already starting to set, it was silently agreed upon that they would get dinner and resume their investigation another time. In the shadows they were being watched by a scruffy blond with sharp blue eyes.

 *****  
Classes were a blur, Leona hardly remembered them even happening (not like he cared, that’s why he had Ruggie around to remind him of the missed assignments and the like). His mind kept going back to this morning and how he had struck at Malleus; morally he should go check on him and own up to the Diasomnia prefect and his other two Queens, but physically he was unable to. Hell, he couldn’t even find the words to say and ‘Hey, sorry for attacking I thought you trio were monsters trying to kill me’ wasn’t going to fly in the slightest bit!

No, he would focus about it later. He had more important things, they just need to take out two players from each dorm to even the field; it was mostly defenders and bench warmers, and he gave the order to make sure they weren’t seriously injured. Everything would turn out fine, everything was going to turn out fine, everything will turn out fine.

“Leona-san.” Ruggie’s voice broke him back to the now.

“What?” Leona looked over at him and frowned, Ruggie had some paint on his clothes. “The hell happened to you?”

Ruggie shrugged. “Long story.” He walked over. “The Queens are teaming up, turns out the headmaster is finally paying attention to the accidents.”

“With or without the headmaster, I know Riddle and Vil wouldn’t get involved unless something happened.” He walked out of his room and into the halls with him. “Tell me the recent targets’ names.” 

“From Pomefiore we had the siblings Harold and Gordon, and from Heartslabyul we have Harlan, Tarrant, and Trey.”

Leona froze a little. “What was that last name?”

“It wasn’t my fault!” Ruggie cried. “I was aiming for the Tweedles and Trey just got in the way!”

This was bad, this was really, _really_ bad. Leona folded his hands and paced in the lobby; this was not how the plan was supposed to go, Trey wasn’t supposed to get hurt! Things weren’t going as plan, they needed to fix this! They had to fix this before it escalates!

“Look, Leona!” Ruggie rushed in front of him and held his shoulders. “I know this is a slip up, but there's still days before the MagiShift. We can still win the game-”

A sharp growl emitted from Leona. “The game will be theirs if that little Red Queen ever break loose.”

“Oh? What is this? You're afraid of Riddle now?”

“Watch your tongue, Ruggie.”

Ruggie shrugged. “Well, I don't see you doing anything. You complain all the time, letting me do the work. Some King of Beast, you are.”

There was a small sound of something cracking as Leona heard that. “King of Beast... Hey. Say it again.”

There was a blink of confusion. “What?”

“What you said earlier, Ruggie.” 

“Uh ‘Some King of Beast you are'?” Ruggie repeated with that same confusion dripping.

“That's it. Say it again. Out loud.” Leona demanded. “For everyone to hear.”

Ruggie just stared at him like he grew a second head. “Uh... 'King of Beast'.” 

That crack turned into a snap from within the lion. “Yes... Yes! Of course! Ha ha! I am Leona Kingscholar, the King of Beast of Savanaclaw.” He made his way to a nearby table and whistled sharply for the dorm. “I am Leona Kingscholar. The King of Beast of Savanaclaw! My name will be heard and fear across the academy! The King of Beast will lead us all to victory and finally dethrone the Master of All Evil!”

That got the rest of the students cheering for him. “Long live the king!” they cheered

 **“This is all hands on deck! Calling out to the pride and pack, I’m getting’ tired of the disrespect; we won’t stop ‘til we rule the school, it’s our time, we up next!”** he raised his hand to the sky. **“Our sail’s about to be set, they ain’t seen nothing yet.”** He laid his hands on his hips. **“Tell ‘em who’s in charge so they don’t forget.”**

He stepped off the table and looked to the group on his left. **“What’s my name? What’s my name? (Leona!)”** he smirked. **“Say it louder.”** To the group on his right. **“What’s my name? What’s my name? (Leona!) Feel the power! No one’s gonna stop us, soon the school will be ours! What’s my name? What’s my name? What’s it, what’s it, say it, say it loud!”**

The rest of the Savanaclaw started to chant Leona’s name; well, all except one student. Jack Howl was to the side, he shook his head and turned to walk out of the dorm, one of the others caught his movement and went up to him. Jack just told the other he was going to jog around their stadium as part of his warmup and the student just shrugged it off and went back to the group celebrating their prefect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, beautiful polishing


	12. Candy Store/Be Prepared

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those who see me on Discord: Yep, this is the damn thing that brought Leona Chandler to life and nope I am not going to apologize for a damn thing
> 
> Rum and Coke: Cuba Libre (Never had it, but I know the cocktail)  
> Songs: Be Prepared - Lion King (The GOOD Lion King), Candy Store (Heathers), Say My Name (Beetlejuice)
> 
> Also look, I'm pulling in the hyena traits

With dinner being over and done with, instead of returning to his dorm, Arisu told everyone that he would take care of looking into their next potential target; Jack Howl, he was in the same year as him, it should be easy to talk to him. To say that everyone was in agreement with it was a damn lie, no-one was too keen in letting him out of their sights; however, Riddle had to remind everyone what Malleus had said; Arisu was a star player as a child in baseball and if that talent transferred over to Magical Shift, the culprit might target after him in no time, but at the same time the culprit may be out of luck if Arisu got his hands on something to swing. It took a lot of assuring from both Rook and Arisu that the he would be fine (“After all, he’s tougher than he looks.” He would say with a wink. A small observation point; Rook knows more than he lets on).

Arisu made his way through the mirror and found himself at the Savanaclaw dormitory; it was completely different than Octavinelle and Heartslabyul that was for certain. With the dorm looking like it was carved out from the mountain, the warm temperature around the place, and the temperate trees; he felt like he was in the Savana itself. It wasn’t the time to start sightseeing, he had a job to do and that was to check on Jack Howl. It took a while to find the whitehead with wolf ears, it was going to be a while to get used to seeing students with animal parts, especially when some of those students had a fluffy tail. Arisu sat on a bleacher and watched him jog around the arena, he waited before approaching him with a water bottle as he stopped to catch his breath.

“Who the hell are you?” He took the water bottle. 

“Arisu Shai, we share alchemy together.” Arisu smiled. “I’m the station across from you.”

“The flower boy.” He nodded. “What do you want?”

“Well…there’s been attacks happening to star players for Magical Shift.”

“And what does this have to do with me?”

“Well…there’s a chance you may be a target and I want to offer my assistance to you.” Arisu held his hand out. “Protection, I mean.”

“You’re wasting your breath, kid.” He turned and walked off. “I’m not going to be targeted, just head back to your pack.” 

Well…that went well. Arisu sighed and started to head back to the mirror. The only problem was that he was blocked off by some of the other Savanaclaw students, this was bad on so many levels – he had his own reputation as an honorary Heartslabyul student and given that now was the time where dorms were going to be at each other’s neck. The end result was a three versus one fight; the fight was in their favors instead of Arisu’s, but he still held onto his own and gave it his all in the fight – thankfully, it was a brawn instead of magic fight. The fight itself didn’t last long until a sharp tone rang out, the three students froze and turned to the source; their Dorm Prefect.

Leona looked down at Arisu and smirked, the strange human of the Ramshackle dorm and adopted by the Heartslabyul dorm. Mortal student that lacks hardly a magical talent and yet is a student here while also surviving against an Overblot victim. This prey held his own against his students in a fist brawl; perhaps this kid had potential, and if Crowley’s hellbent in having this brat on the field he should extend a claw to him. 

“Not often you find prey willing to fight back.” Leona chuckled, he snapped his fingers and moved the crowd before approaching Arisu, holding his hand out to him. “On your feet, you have some serious guts kids.” He pulled him up and brushed his uniform off.

“Senpai.” He greeted. “Glad to see you’re doing well.” 

“Likewise, runt.” He watched him. “Normally, fighting would risk disqualification in Magical Shift, but I won’t say a damn thing if you don’t.”

“Honestly, I’m more concerned about the well-being of the other players.” 

“Figured.” Ruggie walked over and nudged him. “Were you able to get the final two players for your team?

“Actually-”

Leona scoffed. “That’s what I figured, listen…the Headmaster’s going to throw you in another team if you don’t have your players. Let’s just save him the trouble, join our team in the Magical Shift tournament.”

Arisu just stared in disbelief. “Never put words in my mouth again, I have my team already and even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t join another team.”

 **“Are we going to have a problem?”** Leona demanded with a scowl, watching him take a step back. **“You got a bone to pick?”** he grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close. **“You’ve come so far, why now are you pulling on my dick? I’d normally claw your face off.”** He placed his claws by the boy’s face. **“And everyone here can watch.”** He shoved him to the ground. **“But I’m feeling nice, here’s some advice, listen up beeyotch!”**

He moved back to Ruggie and smirked at him. **“I like looking hot, buying stuff they cannot.”** He pointed to the other students. **“I like drinking hard, maxing bro’s credit card.”**

“Senpai did you just admit to identity theft?” Arisu asked.

His question went unanswered as Ruggie came up to him and hovered over him. **“I like skippin’ gym, scaring you.”** He nodded to the mirror **“Screwin’ them.”** He smirked and got closer. **“I like killer clothes, kickin’ nerds in the nose.”** He pushed Arisu to the side with his foot before going back to Leona’s side. **“If you lack the balls, you can go play dolls, let your mommy fix you a snack.”** The other Savannaclaw students went ‘whoa’ at that.

Leona knelt down beside him and held his arm in his hand; **“Or you could come smoke, pound some rum and coke-”** “I’m not of drinking age!?” **“In my Porsche with the quarterbacks.”**

Ruggie grabbed his other arm and pulled Arisu up with Leona before they wrapped an arm around his shoulders, grinning at him as they walked out to the entrance of the dorm with him. **“Herbivore what you waitin’ for? Welcome to my candy store, you just gotta prove you’re not a loser anymore and step into my candy store!”** they let go of him and moved to present the dorm to Arisu.

Arisu shook his head, “You’re not going to strongarm me into joining you.” He said albeit a bit coldly.

That took both Leona and Ruggie by surprise, even the students that were outside with this going on just stared at the mortal in disbelief.

Leona chuckled and sauntered up to him. **“Playing hardball huh? You are tougher than you look.”**

Arisu smirked at him. “Wow Leona, **you're so smart a stand-up bro**.” he poked him in the chest. **“I'll think about your offer, let you know - but I prefer my chances with Ramshackle. Leona, be a doll and spare the lecture.”**

Leona grabbed his arm. **“I’m offering you to be a star player!”**

 **“I think I’d rather just leave here.”** He ignored Leona’s growl.

“Alright, you said you have your missing two players?” He saw the boy nod. “Who?”

Arisu moved from Leona’s grasp. “If you must know, Ace Trappola and Deuce Spade.”

The familiar snicker from the hyena brought Arisu’s attention to Ruggie who was making a heart with his hands. **“Guys fall.”** He flipped the heart into a spade. **“At your feet, pay the check – help you cheat.”**

“I’m not cheating.” Arisu defended.

Ruggie just brushed him off. **“All you have to do is say goodbye to the cards.”** He got in Arisu’s face. **“Those freaks are not your friends; I can tell in the end if they had your shot, they would leave you to rot.”** He backed off and held his hands up with a shrug. **“’Course, if you don’t care, fine, go braid their hair maybe Sesame Street is on.”** He smirked at him. **“Or forget those creeps, and get in my jeep-”**

Arisu looked to the mentioned jeep in the distance. “Senpai where’d you get a jeep?”

Leona walked up to him and grinned. **“You can join our team.”** the other dorm members held the human’s shoulders; **“Or you can bitch and moan.”**

Another student patted his back. **“You can live the dream, or you can die alone!”**

Leona held Arisu’s face in his hand. **“You can fly with eagles or if you prefer keep on testing me and end up like them.”** He smirked down at him. “What will it be, Prey?”

Arisu stared up at him, “What do you mean ‘end up like them’?”

“Tick. Tock. Prey.” Leona tightened his hold on his chin. “Are you joining us in Magical Shift or not?”

“I already said I wasn’t, I have a team as is.” 

“Fine.” He pulled away. “Throw him out.” He ordered.

The three Savanaclaw students grabbed Arisu and picked him up before they unceremoniously threw him threw the mirror, out of the Savanaclaw dorm and into the hall of mirrors. Ruggie sighed and shook his head; shame, the mortal had some potential, well, since he wasn’t going to join them, he was basically free game now to target after. 

This was going to leave some bruises. Arisu stood up and brushed himself off as his group showed up from the cafeteria. He reported that Jack turned down the offer of protection and that Leona offered him a spot on the Savanaclaw team; he turned them down and he was thrown out of the dorm – literally. Almost instantly, Cater, Riddle, and Rook turned to the mirror that led to the dorm. Arisu shook his head and assured them he was going to be fine, starting a fight wasn’t going to do anyone any good. With the time of day, it was probably best to return to the dorms and continue their investigation first thing in the morning after breakfast.

Reluctantly agreeing, the Heartslabyul students wished him a goodnight before leaving him and Grim in the hall with the two Pomefiore students. Epel just thanked him and told him he looked forward to help more in the morning, Rook was the same except he gave some unsolicited beauty advice before parting ways (“Invest in a face mask, I recommend coating your face with milk to help keep your face glowing”). Once at Ramshackle, Arisu and Grim settled in for bed. It was actually a long day as is, they weren’t sure if they would be able to get any sleep.

Okay, Grim was able to sleep with no problem; Arisu however, couldn’t get a wink of sleep. His time at Savanaclaw revealed something that could be a break in the case; if he tested Leona’s patience he would end up like ‘them’…what the hell did Leona know? He was a person of interest worth watching out for, and now he was probably losing sleep over this. Throwing off his covers, he grabbed a jacket from his closet and made his way out of the dorm; outside the dorm, the ghostly trio were in the graveyard and practicing their routine for the tournament – they didn’t need sleep so they had all the time out there. The evening air was pretty cold, fall was here after all and that meant Halloween would be approaching. Did this school celebrate Halloween? He hoped so, he wanted to keep some traditions up. 

“Who goes there?”

Arisu returned to the now and was met with the sight of fireflies surrounding someone; a tall figure with black hair, piercing green eyes and horns. Smiling, Arisu walked over to him; he knew Malleus’ methods of getting around – one that constantly infuriated Sebek, so any time he saw fireflies he knew that the prince was nearby.

Upon seeing the familiar mortal, Malleus raised an eyebrow at him; “Sunflower? You’re still staying at Ramshackle?” he looked at the old dorm. “I would have thought the headmaster would have gave you an offer to stay at the other dorms for a spell.”

“I actually find the place charming; the ghosts are good company.” Arisu looked up at him. “What are you doing out and about this late?”

“I could be asking you the same question, unlike myself you need the rest.” He laid a hand on his shoulder. “But…I also know you well enough to know something is bothering you that you can’t sleep. What’s wrong, Arius?”

Arisu lowered his gaze a little. “I…had an altercation with Leona and his dorm.”

"An altercation? Did he hurt you, sunflower?" Malleus said with clear concern in his voice. Without waiting for Arisu to answer his question, the fae began fussing over the human checking for any possible injuries he might have gotten from his encounter with the lion beastman.

"I'm okay Malleus! He didn't lay a finger; well okay, he didn't leave any marks on me" Arisu said reassuringly reaching up to pat Malleus's shoulder and get him to step back and stop worrying over him. "But I appreciate the concern"

"Of course, I'm concerned about you, the wildcat hasn't been showing the best judgement as of late. Who knows what he might do to you while you are alone with one another" Malleus replied with a frown.

“When you said he hasn’t been showing the best judgement as of late, does that have anything to do with the scratch you had from earlier?”

A soft sigh. “We honestly don’t know what’s going on in his mind right now, but…when we talked to him earlier, he looked as though he saw a ghost before he lashed out.” Malleus lifted his chin so they were eye to eye. “What happened at his dorm?”

“Well, I was following up on the investigation.” He started out. “I went to check on Jack Howl, a fellow first-year, after talking to him I sort of got into a fist fight with some of the Savanaclaw students. Leona came and broke the fight up and gave me an offer to join his team for Magical Shift, I turned him down and he tried to persuade me, I still turned him down and he had some of his dorm members throw me out – literally, throw me out through the mirror.”

“And thus, you escaped with bruises only.” Malleus shook his head. “Reports were the same on my end, everyone saying they were being controlled somehow; aside from that, nothing new has popped up.” He nodded back to the dorm. “We will continue this talk in the morning, head onto bed.”

“I’m not tired though.” He saw Malleus’ eyes glows. “Fine, fine. You win.” Arisu huffed and made his way back into the dorm for a good night’s rest.

Just when he thought he was over these dreams, it had to happen again. He found himself among a crowd of hyenas – heck, he himself was a hyena. He’s had some weird dreams in his life, but this had to be the weirdest out there so far…that is what he would say if he weren’t going about it like the Alice dreams. That means the previous dream where he was watching a baboon show off a lion cub was just as similar; something at Night Raven was repeating the past again.

He hated being right; before him on top of a rock was Scarr himself; chest puffed out with pride as he was with the hyenas. Promising them a life of grandeur if they followed him, their plan was to assassinate the king and the prince.

 **“It’s great that we’ll soon be connected. With a king who’ll be all-time adored!”** The hyenas cheered. 

“Ever heard of the saying if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.” Just like Alice, his voice was unheard.

Scarr was just soaking up the praise he rightfully deserved. **“Meticulous planning, tenacity spanning, decades of denial is simply while I’ll be king undisputed.”** His teeth were shown. **“Respected, saluted, and seen for the wonder I am! Yes, my teeth and ambitions are bared, be prepared!”**

The hyenas cheered even more. **“Yes, our teeth and ambitions are bared, be prepared!”**

Why hadn’t he tried the diplomatic route in talking to the current king? Yeah, it’s not the easiest method but…it was better than just assassination as the first tactic!

“Arisu!”

He woke up to something jumping on him, he blinked awake and saw Grim on his chest. “Morning Grim.” He muttered.

“Finally! You’re awake!” He jumped off and went back to floating. “Come on~ The others are here for breakfast! Rook’s cooking for us.”

“I’m sorry, what?” He got out of bed before changing into a fresh uniform. “When the hell did everyone get here?”

“Well not everyone is here, Riddle said that Ace and Deuce are feeding the flamingos, and that Vil’s meeting with Crewel to discuss some project.” He watched him.

“That doesn’t answer my question of why or when they showed up.” 

Arisu got his shoes on and started down the stairs with Grim flying after him. Upon arriving in the dorm’s lounge, he saw everyone set up at the coffee table; Riddle and Cater were on the couch, Epel was just lounging on the ground, making sure he was staring Rook in the eyes and he slouched every time. Rook was on a chair and just shaking his head at the first-year. The table had a small buffet of food; there was enough left for Grim and Arisu to have something.

Riddle looked over and got up before going over to him. “Your tie is crooked.” He got close and started to adjust it. “Rule-breaking starts with unruly clothes; your dormmates will not follow you if you so much look improper.” He pulled back and nodded in approval. “There we go.”

“Thanks.” Arisu smiled went to sit beside Epel. “When did you guys get here?”

“We got here around five thirty a.m.” Rook explained. “We figured eating in a dorm would be a change of pace…and to catch you up to speed.”

“What do you mean?” Arisu paused in grabbing a French Toast and a small bowl of fruit. “And what the hell were you guys doing waking up at that ungodly hour?!”

“Breakfast in the dining hall starts at six a.m. sharp.” Riddle said sternly. “And goes on until seven thirty, classes begin at eight thirty giving students an hour to get to class and review their work before lecture begins. You should know this; you’re always at the dining hall at six forty-five, are you not?”

“It’s not like I wanted to be up at that time.” Arisu grumbled as he ate. “I haven’t really been sleeping well in the past.” Eyes were on him. “No, this was before the OB incident…”

“Talk to us, cher.” Rook said softly. “What has you troubled?”

“Long story short; weird dreams that are showing the past. I already talked to Ace – still wondering why he has a book on dream meanings, remind me to ask him that later – and he said that they’re more of warnings that the present is repeating the past.” Arisu explained. 

“We’ll be talking about that at a later date.” Riddle reminded. “For now, let’s focus on the task at hand; another accident happened last night.”

That got Arisu frozen in place. “What? Who was attacked?”

Cater set his plate down for a few seconds and took his phone out before pulling up the information needed. “Jamil Viper, second year student and vice-head of Scarabia.” He started off. “Part of the same basketball club that Ace is in; according to painting witnesses, he was in the cafeteria late at night cooking before he had an accident with a knife – only his hand got cut.”

“Guess we should talk to him after breakfast.” Epel said.

 *****  
“Hey! You were the guy that was attacked, what happened! Tell us everything!” Grim demanded as he got into the student’s face.

“Grim!” Arisu pulled the strange cat away. “Sorry about him, Jamil, we’re trying to solve these strange accidents and we wanted to know if you knew anything?”

Jamil let out an irritated sigh and shook his head before laying a hand on the blonde’s shoulder. “Let me assure you now, I’m fine, Ace, I’m not going to let this affect my performances as both vice-dorm head, on the basketball team, nor on the fields of Magical Shift. Now stop fussing, you’re like Kalim.”

“I believe I’m within my rights to worry about you.” Arisu looked up at him. “You’re in the same club as Ace and I’m sure he’d be worried about you if he hears about this, please tell us what happened?”

Another sigh escaped Jamil’s lips. “Fine, I’m only doing this because I don’t want Ace tracking me down.” He crossed his arms. “Last night, I went to the kitchen to prepare some fried buns that Kalim asked me to make.” He shot a look at the heir who looked away. “Anyway, while chopping the ingredients, my hands suddenly felt as if they were out of my control and I got injured in the process.”

Kalim nodded and spoke up. “His knife skills are praised by top chefs! He wouldn’t make a blunder like this, and he wasn’t even tired from practice!”

Arisu nodded. “Was there anything about how you felt when you lost control?”

“Felt like I lost my awareness for a moment.” He laid a hand on his chin in thought. “I remember feeling the same sensation before…similar to someone’s unique magic.”

That got Kalim to start bragging about him; while Jamil took pride in his chef skills, this wasn’t the time to be bringing up anything about him. He covered his prefect’s mouth just as he was about to bring up his unique magic. After sometime, he finally let go of Kalim before talking, remaining calm. “Now’s not the time to brag about me.” He turned to the group. “In any case, the culprit probably used some kind of magic that makes one mimic the caster’s movements.”

“A puppet master spell?” Arisu asked. “But wouldn’t someone notice they were being controlled?”

“Not necessarily.” Riddle said. “When Trey fell down the stairs, it didn’t feel as someone was controlling him.”

Cater placed a hand on his chin. “If that’s the case, it’d be impossible to find the culprit.”

No…there was someone who had that kind of magic and it was what drove Arisu to go to the Monstro Lounge that day for dinner. During lunch, Grim had fought tooth and nail to get a deluxe meat sandwich only to have lost it to another student – that sparked another fight, it was a losing battle as the student walked off with the sandwich with a pep in his step. Thinking long and hard, he could make out the physical appearance perfectly; the same student from that day was also the same one who tried to talk him into joining Savanaclaw’s team for Magical Shift back at the dorm. Looking to Grim, the two had come to the same conclusion. After thanking Jamil for his time, the group left the cafeteria; Arisu and Grim shared their experience with the Savanaclaw student in general – Grim forcing to lose the deluxe meat sandwich and Arisu who was being persuaded to join another team (and possibly threatened to join.). Upon meeting up with Ruggie, they pulled him from the classroom to interrogate him; Of course, the hyena was in no mood to be cooperative, not only swiping the other boys' pens but then making a dash for the courtyard on the ground floor. Despite this complication at least one person seemed happy about this turn of events. A smile was drawn wide across Rook's face ever the enthusiastic for a good chase for worthy prey such as Ruggie. With Rook leading the chase and the others being close behind – picking up Ace and Deuce in the process, and doing whatever they could to either slow the hyena down or to corner him.

They ended up cornering him in the courtyard. Rook held his hand out to keep the others from approaching the hyena boy, though the hunt appeared to be theirs, Ruggie’s behavior was unsettling; he was letting out loud growls and whimpers, his teeth were shown and he lowered his hindquarters, his tail was curled bellow the belly. Rook turned and had ordered the others to stay back. That was better in theory, in practice, Ace stormed over to the Hyena. That caused the boy to look at him with a vicious grin before letting out a shrill laugh – the laugh made Rook pale. He pulled Ace away from Ruggie 

“Run.” He ordered.

“What for, he’s just laughing?” Ace stared at him weird.

“You don’t know a thing about hyenas, do you?” Rook had worry in his voice. “He’s calling for help.”

The situation was now clear, but they were unable to get far before they were surrounded by Savanaclaw students. Ruggie’s shrill laughter turned into a soft chuckle before going over and started to juggle some of the stolen pens before them, taunting them with his collection.

“Y’know, even if I hadn’t called for help, can you even prove that I did it? There’s no proof that I’m the one who hurt the other players, right? Did anyone see me using magic? And do they have picture evidence? There’s none, right?”

Arisu looked at him, “We have an eye-witness! Rosalia was the one who told us about Jamil’s accident!”

“That old bat? Her eyes are probably faded and besides.” He smirked. “What good could a _painting_ do? Last I checked, a painting’s word can’t and won’t hold up in serious accusations such as sabotage.” He tossed the pens to the group. “Here, take the pens back, we have places to be, bye bye~” He left with the rest of his dorm mates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A cliffhanger
> 
> and before anyone comments about the Candy Store choice: I just wanted an excuse to make an identity theft joke. There's no hidden meaning. This is just one of my famous sleep deprived ideas.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, look! Good things happen when you bring up concerns around friends :D

Vil was looking over some books with Crewel, after what happened at the Dorm Head meeting with Leona suddenly lashing out like that, he wanted to prevent another episode like that. Aside from Vil, Master Crewel was also concerned when he heard that the Lion had suddenly lashed out at those who he deemed friends. There were calming potions, yes, but for a breakdown like that…it would take more than just a calming potion. Each book just led to a dead end, and Crewel sighed and laid a hand on Vil’s shoulder, telling him to head on out and he would take over from here. Reluctantly, Vil agreed and walked out of the alchemy room and started to head towards the cafeteria where the others would be meeting later in the day.

Vil sighed and rubbed his eyes, morning was a dead end – so to speak, and with the accidents still accumulating the tension in the school was at its all high. His phone went off as he made it to the stairs, he looked down at the message that was sent from Riddle saying they had a break in the case; though wonderful news, Vil couldn’t help but to feel uneasy as he reached the third-floor stairwell and his suspicions were correct as he felt someone collide with him with unnecessary force that lifted him over the railing and left him dangling on the other side – and phone laying on the ground with a crack. He looked up to see who had the nerve to do such a thing and made eye-contact with a scuffy-looking caracal-beastman in the Savanaclaw dorm uniform.

"I've always wanted to do this, you prissy little pome-freaks need to learn your place on the food chain" the caracal-beastman said with a snicker. "You like to talk all high and mighty but look at you dangling off the edge of the stairwell begging for mercy. Pathetic." the boy stomped on one of Vil's hands making him yelp in pain and release his grip on the railing. "Long live the king, bitch." the caracal-beastman said stomping on Vil's other hand and making him let go on that side as well so he plummeted to the ground floor. 

The only thought in the blonde's mind as he fell was that at least he wasn't on the fourth or fifth floor when the Savanaclaw ruffian had made his move. The next thing he thought wasn't really a thought but just a very loud reaction to finally hitting the ground and feeling his bones shatter as he let out a shriek shook the very foundations of the school before his vision went black. 

When he came to, he found himself in the infirmary with not only his worried students by his side, but also Doctor Crane beside him going over some medical chart. One of his students – a wolf-beastman named Wolfram informed him of what happened, he was actually on his way back to the dorm for afternoon tea when Vil cried out and he ran to the scene. Vil had asked if he had saw where the caracal went but the answer was sadly no, the other question was if his phone was alright – it wasn’t, and he would have to get a new phone. Shaking his head, he told the student to go find Riddle, Rook, basically the investigative team and inform them of what happened; that was the last thing he said before the student rushed out, leaving only the sight of his red cloak flutter behind him. After that was out of the way, he told the rest of the students to be on their way.

As Doctor Crane did his usual evaluations, he had gave Vil a glass with some medicine in it – it was actually a bone mending potion, the only down side was that while it would quicken the process of mending the broken bones, it would still be some time before Vil was completely healed and able to move around; a guardian angel was definitely watching over the prefect as the results could have been a lot worse for him. Vil just shook his head and drank the potion before settling himself in a comfortable setting, he was going to be here for a while and he may as well make himself as comfortable as he could. 

The feeling lasted for a moment when Leona had come bursting into the room with a panicked expression on his face, Vil just shot him a cold look and crossed his arms as he silently watched the lion approach him and sitting beside the bed.

“Vil…” he reached out for him. “Who did this to you?”

“Why not ask your students, Leona?” Vil’s voice held ice in it.

"I didn’t-" Leona began

"-Why are you here anyways? I'm surprised you found time in your schedule to come see a _prissy pome-freak,_ _oh mighty king of beasts, apex predator of the food chain._ " Vil cut in, his tone venomous as he spoke the last part of that sentiment. 

Leona's heart ached and he pressed his head against the blonde's chest and began purring softly. As much as Vil was displeased with the beastman at the moment, he didn’t have it in him to reject this act of comfort. Though he might try to deny it, he was still feeling shaken from his fall and the familiar purr of the lion calmed his nerves like nothing else could as he reached down to pet Leona's head.

“Leona.” He gently scratched his ears. “Are you responsible for the accidents?” he felt him tensed. “Why? I won’t be mad; I just want to understand…help me understand.” 

“I can’t.” Leona muttered. “I want to, but…I just can’t…”

“Leona…” Vil stopped petting him. “I’m sorry, but if you’re not going to tell me, I suppose this makes us enemies.”

The lion moved from him and looked at him with surprise and hurt. His entire world just froze in place as he heard those words, he reached out for the blond who only just kept his hands away and a solemn expression on his face that didn’t change when his ears flattened at that. Neither of them had said a word to each other, they stayed before the other in complete silence that was broken when the first-year Ramshackle student ran in and went up to Vil. 

Though Leona wouldn’t say anything about it, he was actually seething to see his queen allow Arisu to approach him and to even pull him close to him. He didn’t remember returning to Savanaclaw, he didn’t care, he wanted someone’s head for what happened.

Leona stormed into the dorm common room, before he'd entered the sounds of chatting and snickering had been loud enough to be heard in the hallway. However, as he entered everyone went quiet and turned to look at him with fearful attentiveness. 

"Who pushed the Pomefiore student over the railing?" he said forcing his voice to remain level and dignified. 

There was soft mumbling among the masses of students before someone stepped forward from the crowd. 

"What's your name kid?" Leona said folding his arms and staring the boy down.

"Chara Hoplo, first year" the caracal-beastman said staring up at the lion, his expression one of boredom. 

"You want to explain to me why you decided to go against my orders and go after someone without my explicit instructions?" Leona said his tail starting to wag with annoyance. 

"Eh, I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal" Chara said with a shrug. "I just saw a prissy-ass pomefuck student and thought he needed to be knocked down a peg. You should have seen the face he made when I stepped on his hand, I wish I had taken a picture of it" the caracal went on chuckling and not realizing that Leona's mouth had twisted into a frown as he approached the first-year. 

"Well guess what? It is a big fucking deal" Leona growled as he grabbed Chara by the throat and lifted him off the ground. "You didn’t just pick any old prissy-ass pomefuck to try and knock them down a peg. You picked the Queen prissy-ass pomefuck himself, Vil Schoenheit." the lion snarled tightening his grip and starting to choke the caracal. "Do you have any idea how badly you've fucked up our masterplan kid? Do you?!" he went on activating King's Roar and starting to disintegrate the boy's throat.

Chara might have died as an example not to go behind the King's back had Ruggie not intervened to get the first-year released and carted off to the infirmary.

“Ruggie.” Leona called out to him. “Tomorrow at gym, kill him.”

His ears shot up after hearing that. “What?”

“Arisu Shai.” Leona narrowed his eyes. “Kill him.”

 *****  
The rest of the day was tensed after that, and to say that classes the next day went by without problems would be lying. History and Alchemy started out fine, it was just reviewing last week’s lectures and doing a small quiz on the topic. With gym class, that was when things took a different turn; instead of being filled with just first years, due to Magical Shift, it would be every year together in one setting. Now Arisu was on pins and needles when it came to being on the broom and flying in the skies with Epel and Riddle. 

At first glance, being in the air meant the group should have an advantage to see if anyone – specifically, Ruggie, - was acting suspicious. Unfortunately, that was where things got on the shaky side of things – literally, he had a brief moment of losing control of his broom; he hardly got a chance to look around to see if the hyena was nearby to perform his special magic before he was thrown off the broom. 

They say when you’re falling, time seems to slow down; this was unfortunately the truth. Arisu closed his eyes and braced himself for impact, and it did come…in the form of landing into someone’s arm. Slowly, he opened his honeyed eyes and looked to see who had caught him; Azul Ashengrotto.

“I’ve heard of angels falling from heaven, but this is rather ridiculous.” Azul guided the broom down to the ground and let Arisu off. “I thought you were the better flier.”

“I usually am.” Arisu’s legs were shaking, he believed he would have fallen to his death earlier. His heart was racing, his breathing was short and rapid.

“Are you going to be okay?” He got off and approached him, the boy just nodded before he fell forward into him – he just passed out into his arm. “Arisu…?” no response. “Right, let’s get you to the infirmary.” Azul picked him up and left for the infirmary with the unconscious mortal in his arms.

When they got to the infirmary, Vil’s eyes widened in shock; he tried to move from his position but was held down by the doctor. Azul brought Arisu over and laid him on a cot beside Vil’s before sitting between them. He leaned back in the chair and looked around the room; in one part of the room was his student Calico with the Savanaclaw student (Chara, his mind finally supplied), Calico was currently teaching the beastman sign until his throat ‘grew back’ (Doctor Crane had said that regrowing anything was a nasty business and that patients were in for a very rough treatment. It’s a crude method, but it got the job done. Not like Azul would ever want to make a similar potion, seeing his tail split into legs was enough for him, thank you very much.)

“What happened to him?” Vil demanded.

“He fell off his broom.” Azul said simply. “I caught him, he was shaken up and he passed out in my arms, so I brought him here.”

“He _fell_ off?” Vil repeated, his eyes went to the caracal student for a brief second before returning to Azul. “Somehow, I don’t buy it.” He let a soft sigh. “But I thank you for saving him in time.”

“I would feel awful if I had left him passed out on the fields.” Azul held his heart. “It would go against everything I stand for in helping unfortunate souls like him.”

“Cut the theatrics.” Vil snapped. “What do you want in exchange for helping him?”

Azul smirked. “Come now, Vil, this is completely free of charge.” He looked at the casts on his legs. “Besides, Jade and Floyd filled me in – actually, we’ve been following the news about the strange accidents and with what the twins have found out from your little group…well, we can’t really turn a blind eye.” He said simply. “Especially, since our favorite customer got mixed up in the mess no thanks to the Headmaster.”

“The point, Ashengrotto.”

“Fine, the is point is that we want in.” Azul said simply. “As you know, the three of us don’t take kindly to those who harm the ones we find interest in. Information for information, you tell us what you know and we tell you what we know.” He held his hand out. “Is it a deal, Prefect Schoenheit?”

“We will be meeting at Ramshackle.” Vil said simply. “Bring what you need, we will talk there.”

Azul just grinned at him. “As you wish, Vil.”

As they ‘sealed the deal’, Arisu awoke and sat up, he looked around confused before memories came flooding back to him; Vil and Azul filled him in on what he might have missed and told him that they would see him at the Ramshackle dorm. Azul had stood up and helped Arisu on his feet and guided him around the school, to the final classes and to help him collect his belongings so they could go to Ramshackle together. (“There’s no charge for this, I’m being a model student by helping those in need; what kind of senior would I be if I let a first-year stumble and hurt themselves?”). The Octavinelle Mafia were part of the group for the emergency meeting. 

At Ramshackle, Arisu was brought up to speed by Ace who recounted what Jack had told them earlier; Ruggie’s unique magic is called ‘Laugh with me’ it makes people mimic whatever he’s doing; he controlled the person he wanted to control and made it look like an accident (And it was also how he managed to get Grim’s sandwich without looking suspicious). There were others from Savanaclaw that were most likely in on it as well, they acted as Ruggie’s wall. They had their culprit but they still needed something solid to nail him with.

“Something isn’t adding up!” Grim growled. “From what we’ve seen and been told, Savanaclaw is powerful as is, why resort to cheating and getting others out of the way!” he paced around. “Don’t most teams have ‘replacements’ in case something happened to the star player?”

Arisu’s eyes widened at that. “Grim…repeat what you said?”

Grim looked up and tilted his head. “Huh? I said don’t most teams have someone to stand in for others if something happened?”

Arisu fell quiet and turned to Trey who was on the recliner, crutches beside him, “Trey…who would take over for you and Tarrant?”

Trey blinked at that; “It would be the twins Deva and Dustan,”

Arisu turned to Rook. “Rook, the two Pomefiore students who were attacked, and if you were targeted, who would be the replacements?”

“For Henrick and Gregory it would be Wolfram and Raphael.” Rook replied. “For me, it would be Fynn.” He looked to Epel, “And in the case of Roi du Poison, Epel’s taking his place.”

“Damsel fish, you’re being weird.” Floyd hugged him from behind. “What are you trying to get at?”

“Everyone that’s been attacked are star players that would be inconvenienced, I think it’s safe to say that Savanaclaw’s trying to even the field by having underdog only players.”

“And why would they do that?” Ace asked.

“The ‘King of Beasts’ was considered an underdog for you guys, he rose to power and ruled the Savana, didn’t he?” Arisu challenged. “Who’s to say Leona’s not doing the same and taking the role of the King of Beasts?”

Ace paled at that, he got up and moved to Arisu’s side. “Arisu…is it happening again?” he watched the blond nod. “Talk to me, what happened this time in your dream?”

Ignoring the confused reactions of the others, Arisu turned his focus onto Ace before replying. “The ‘King of the Beasts’ was with the hyenas; they were planning to assassinate the current king and the prince so he could rule the Savana.”

“That makes zero sense, you just said he was taking out star players so the underdogs can play! I doubt he’s going to participate since he’s probably one of the stronger players!” Ace cried.

“You would be correct.” Vil spoke up. “Not to mention, he was in utter panic when he found out I got injured.” He rolled himself over. “But I think there’s more going on, if his behavior from before is anything to go off of.”

Azul hummed. “He was pretty hostile, strange enough when it comes to you, Riddle, and Malleus, Prefect Kingscholar tends to put you three on a pedestal.” He tapped his chin. “Yet, at the prefect meeting he was quite ready to rip someone’s face off when the Headmaster wanted to put Prefect Draconia in the Hall of Fame and keep him from playing this year.”

“Most of us were all opposed to the idea of both.” Riddle informed. “We said this year he could play for his dorm, and next year he would be moved to the Hall of Fame.” He looked to Malleus and Vil in silent conversation, both just nodded to him and encouraged him to go on. “After the meeting, we confronted Leona and asked what happened…I’ll spare the conversation detail but, upon pressing him for an explanation, he turned paled as if he saw a ghost and lashed at us.”

Malleus nodded and held his arm. “The attack went towards Riddle; I took the scratch.” He spoke. “We know something troubling is going on with him, with the accidents – while we did suspect Ruggie at first, we didn’t want to accuse him or the dorm for having a hand. The last thing we needed was for Leona to have another breakdown.” He crossed his arms. “Of course, had he told us the reason behind them, we might have planned something out without things escalating – one where he’d get his desires of the underdogs rising the ranks.”

“And now to bring the huge concern.” Vil crossed his arms. “It seems that some of Leona’s men went behind his back; case in point a student named Chara who caused my accident showed up with a missing throat.” He looked to Arisu. “And now, Arisu who was thrown off his broom…I’m not sure why he’s targeted though, if memory serves me, Malleus, you’ve bragged about his Little Leagues and bike racing accomplishments, neither of those will help much in Magical Shift.”

“It’s because I challenged their dorm.” Arisu admitted. “Prefect Kingscholar offered me a spot on the Savanaclaw team and I turned him down; he tried the intimidation tactic, said I could either join them or test his patience and ‘end up like them’.”

“Ah? Are you sure that’s it, Damsel Fish?” Floyd asked with a grin. “Damselfish has won the heart of Goldfishie.” He walked over and leaned on his shoulders. “It’s no secret that you two are usually attached at the hip after the Overblot incident and since Lionfish can be pretty jealous when it comes to his queens, he may see you as a threat.”

“Floyd’s right.” Jad leaned on Riddle’s shoulder. “You, a mortal boy, who is not only Malleus Draconia’s childhood friend, but also now Riddle’s…lover if you will, I’d say you’re seen as a threat to the pride Leona’s in charge of.” He tapped his chin. “Though, I have to wonder if this threat will pass on to the Snake Pit.”

“Enough.” Riddle shoved Jade off him. “Arisu and I aren’t lovers, we’re just friends. More importantly, Arisu’s a walking target now, and tomorrow is the Magical Shift tournament.”

Deuce looked at Riddle. “So, what the hell are we supposed to do now?” he demanded.

Malleus had a grin on his face, a familiar impish glee to it. “I may have an idea.” He clapped his hands together; “Vil, Riddle, and…Diamonds?” He looked at Cater. “You three come with me, the rest of you; either return to your dorms or stay with Arisu tonight.” He grabbed Vil’s chair and wheeled him out with Cater and Riddle following behind.

“You boys head to your dorm.” Rook held Arisu from the Octavinelle trio. “Monsieur Crab Apple and I will take care of Petite Lapin and his little friends~” He picked him up and carried him back to the couch he watched as Jack waited a while and was about to leave. “Ah, ah, non, not you, Jack. You no doubt will have a target on your head after revealing this kind of information; you’re to stay put with us!”

“Tch. I’m only staying because you’re a hunter and you would only track me down if I refuse.” Jack muttered.

“Glad we see eye to eye.” Rook smirked. “Now then! Let’s get something to eat, I’ll get a nice hearty dinner for you first-years~”

 *****  
To say they were feeling vindictive was an understatement, the trio were downright pissed when they saw Leona walk into their lounge but they kept a pleasant smile on their faces. This lion caused the object of their curiosity to fall off his broom and almost gravely harmed him, Floyd was so close in wanting to squeeze him right there and then; the only thing keeping him from jumping across the table to do just that was that they had to remain professional in cases like this. 

Azul smiled bright at Leona and welcomed him to the lounge; “Whatever I can do for you today, Prefect Kingscholar?”

“The potion I asked for.” The lion snapped. “Do you have it, or not?”

“I did have it made.” Azul snapped his fingers, Jade left and returned with it. “Of course, I might not be so inclined to give it to you; I believe there’s rules at the tournament about using potions.” He played with the bottle. “We are honorable players after all, it would be an unfair advantage.”

A low growl. “We had a deal.”

A small tut. “No, we didn’t…a contract wasn’t sealed nor was a down payment placed for this.” Azul looked at him. “You know what’s strange? Earlier today one of our…better fliers in gym was thrown off his broom, the prefect at Heartslabyul nearly had a heart attack when he learned of this.”

“Maybe the idiot mortal should’ve stayed on the ground where he belongs.” He took his wallet out. “How much for the damn potion.”

“I never said the victim was mortal.” Azul smirked. “How _did_ you know that it was Arisu that fell of his broom?”

“We’re done here.” He just slammed a few Madols on the table before taking the potion from Jade. “Good Night.”

“Of course, Leona.” Azul waved him off. “Oh, and word to the wise; if I see you or your pet hyena anywhere near Arisu again I will turn you into a throw rug and place you in the VIP lounge.” He chuckled when the other just flipped him off.

The trio waited until he was gone from the dorm before turning to face each other. Floyd looked ready to go after him, but Azul stopped him saying; “One should really read warning labels.” He had a wicked smirk on his face that brought delight to the twins. “Well, let’s head to bed, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”


	14. Madness of King Leona

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright...Do you know how much I love you people? I love my readers so much that I allowed myself to be talked into doing the full seductive fun from this song. I didn't want to because I was afraid the rating would have to be bumped up. But I did it. I'm going to go cry into the forest now.
> 
> Song: Madness of King Scar - Lion King
> 
> SPECIAL THANKS TO MY FRIENDS WHO HELPS ME WITH THIS ISEKAI MESS

_Another night in the savanna, except unlike the first night where it was lively and splendid with the arrival of the prince it was desolate and barren. What the hell had happened? No, that was a stupid question, Arisu already had the answer to that and it was confirmed when he followed a set of hyenas into the lion den. The hyenas voiced their complaints and concerns about there being no food or water, what Scarr said was just downright insulting; just eat Zazu – a prisoner._

_Said Scarr certainly didn’t take kindly to being compared to his brother either, it was clear he only cared about the glory and not anything else. Just hearing him made his fur ruffle up – right, he almost forgot he was in hyena form again. What the hell happened? He was so hyped up to be king just moments ago, did he lose his drive even before he became king?_

“Hey, wake up.” Jack shook Arisu’s shoulder hard. “If you don’t, the damn hunter will be up to drag you out.”

“I’m awake.” Arisu groaned and got up. “What time is it.”

“Frick if I know.” Jack turned around to give the boy some privacy to dress. “What did you do to get Octavinelle’s attention?”

Arisu just shrugged as he got into a pair of shorts and team jersey (he was still wondering how Ace and Deuce pulled this off in the short time span, he had his suspicions that the ghosts had a hand in this). “Heck if I know, I just went to the Monstro Lounger, saw Azul at work and…that was it.”

“There’s more to your story, did you do anything before the visit to the Monstro Lounge?”

“There is one thing I can think of, but it’s not my place to tell you as the other party member isn’t here.”

Jack just hummed. “You don’t have to say anything more, you already confirmed what I heard in the halls.” He turns so they were eye to eye. “You think the other Heartslabyul students were quiet? People talk, Flower Boy, and when people talk, those who are nearby listens; I know of your encounter with an Overblot student, you almost died.”

“Is this the part where you scold me?” Arisu challenged. “Because I was already chewed out by the victim for a reckless move that caused me to be nearly hung.” He flinched when Jack growled at him. “Why does it matter what I do? You said yourself when you were telling the others that you weren’t going to get involved.”

Jack scoffed. “I may not enjoy helping you or the others in this plot, frankly, I’d rather you do this without me – however, I can’t sit by and watch someone I looked up to resort to low measures.” He looked at him. “But I do want to know why you’re putting yourself on the line for someone in a world you have no business being in.”

Arisu had a faint smile, “As Zidane would say; do I need to have a reason for helping someone?” he crossed his arms. “I know we hadn’t saw each other as friends at the start but now? I’d save him again in a heartbeat, even if it wasn’t an OB episode.”

“Loyal to those you hardly know, are all mortals like this?” Jack nudged him. “You’re something else, Flower Boy.” He turned and walked out. “Now come on, there’s breakfast to be had and a plan to enact.”

Breakfast was quiet for the most part, probably because everyone’s minds were on the tournament and whatever Cater had planned out. Arisu wasn’t going to lie, he was actually nervous and he struggled to keep his nerves down long enough to actually eat something – it took multiple reassuring from Ace and Deuce that everything was going to be fine before he could actually get food to settle. With the stressful part over with, the group headed out to the stadium.

Well, technically, they stopped at a few stalls before they had to go to the stadium to meet up for the March of the players; it was a huge festival after all, and who were they to deny themselves some fun times before they had to go to their appropriate meeting place? Arisu had bought a Heartslabyul charm from one of the stalls and placed it on his phone – much to the delight of Ace and Deuce, they were certain that Riddle would approve (and he did), after all Cater patted Arisu’s back in approval as well. Of course, strange enough, Riddle was dressed in his alchemy robes today – classes weren’t happening today? He hardly had time to question it when the announcement was made for the players to meet at their respective tents before the March of the Players began.

Looking to his friends, they made their way to the meeting area at the stadium; inside the tent was similar, Arisu had broken from the group and made his way through the rest of the players to get to where Diasomnia’s members were; even though by definition the players would be safe in the tent, he still wanted to check up on the group. Lilia’s gaze on him lit up, the two boys beside him kept a neutral expression the entire time whereas Malleus just stood to the side honing in on where the Ramshackle group would meet, there was actually a student over there around Arisu’s height and with a robe over their face.

Before Arisu could question the strange sight before him, Lilia took him into his arms and lifted his chin so they were meeting eye to eye; a mischievous grin was on his face as he brushed a strand of hair from his face. “Look at you, ready to play your big match here. Your parents are going to be in for a surprise when they tune in.” he poked his nose. “Stay with us, Sunflower.”

“But what about the March of the Players? I can’t leave my team.” Arisu protested.

“Shh.” Lilia patted his hair. “Everything will be fine, Arisu, just be ready to follow us out the tent.”

That was the last thing ever spoken to him. The announcer came on the PA and called for the March of the Players; Ramshackle was called forth, Lilia kept Arisu in place as the Ramshackle students – including the mysterious student walked out of the tent. With them out the main tent, Malleus held open the back for the rest of the group to creep out and head to where Leona would no doubt be lurking around – the stadium; keeping to the shadows as they heard the commotion starting up and seeing the act before them on the scoreboard screen. The names of the students were displayed as they made their way through the stalls; Futuro, Deuce Spade, Grim, Ace Trappola, Paron, Arisu Shai, and Passe. Wait…Arisu did a double-take, the mysterious student was using his name? What the hell? He didn’t have time to think before they were able to see what else was going on.

From the looks of things, Ruggie had managed to make a stampede of crowd goers happen and trampled over Arisu. It dawned on the real Arisu, seeing Riddle in his alchemy robes, right…Cater had the ability to make clones! Teaming up with powerful magicians he probably made a Cater Clone look like Riddle and since (according to Lilia at least) Riddle and Arisu were the same height (except Riddle had an inch above Arisu, and that was without the heels).

Ruggie had dragged his now tired self to Leona’s side with a triumphant look on his face; the two cheered for the fall of Arisu and even Ruggie got the others to cheer ‘Long Live the King’. That was all anyone really needed to hear before they stepped forward.

“I feel like we’ve heard enough.” Riddle stood before Leona. “And if you try denying anything, we have your confession on tape.” 

Leona looked over and narrowed his eyes at the small crowd behind Riddle; the phone addicted Cater, the Octavinelle Mafia trio, The obnoxious hunter – Rook, the runty Eple, and the remainder of the Ramshackle team. His gaze turned cold when he saw Jack among them. “You couldn’t settle with the ‘mafia’ that you had to hijack one of my students as well?”

“Unlike some people, the majority of us refuse to stoop to your level.” Jack snapped.

“Fight all you want, it’s already too late to help that runt, Arisu!” he laughed some more.

“Pray tell, I am quite interested in that story.” Lilia came over with a grin on his face, his grin grew even more when Leona and Ruggie went paled as they saw Arisu walk over with the rest of the Diasomnia quartet.

“But…we…we saw you get trampled by the crowd-!” Ruggie cried

Malleus came up forward and stood beside Cater. “Surprised? As are we, we didn’t think anyone would fall for this bait and switch ploy, but alas, that seems to be case here.”

Leona growled as he honed in on Arisu. “You just can’t leave well enough alone, can you Prey.” He stalked over and grabbed the blond by the neck. “All you had to do was keep your head down and shut up, we could have it all in the end.” 

Arisu was coughing, dust was flying and his skin was feeling dried. Looking up at Leona, he saw a wicked smirk on his face as the boy silently asked what the hell was going on. 

“Surprised? This is my unique magic, King’s Roar, it turns everything I touch back into sand.” He chuckled when cracks started to form on Arisu’s body.

“Let him go right now!” Riddle aimed his wand at him “{Off with your head!}”

The collar stopped the spell for the time being, giving Jack enough time to rush over and get Arisu away from Leona, he held him close and to check for damages. Gasping out, Arisu was trying to assure him he was fine; there was an eerie calming silence between the two sides. Leona, collared and staring down the group. Riddle staring down Leona with the makeshift army behind him. The only sound between them was Arisu’s struggling breath and Malleus’ footsteps approaching them.

The draconic faerie knelt down and looked up at Leona with an acidic look. “For the longest time, the four of us were founded on the mutual respect for each other.” His sharp teeth were shown. “We were the Royal Quartet for a reason, Leona…You and I were the kings of this school, yet, you then sneak in the shadows like a common rat instead of putting your trust in us.” Streams of smoke were creeping out.

Lilia looked to him. “I won’t lie, we had lamented on the fact he could never become king, however…” He turned back to Leona. “You believe you can become king with the attitude you possess? Living a life full of sloth? Ha! Compared to our dignified king, this is truly laughable; you not only attacked students, but you also attacked someone who is not only dear to us, but also a childhood friend of Lord Malleus, you’ll never become a true king if you don’t rid that rotten heart of yours.”

The straw that broke the camel’s back. Leona lost it right there and then; the negative energy that filled him to the brim was enough for Lilia and Malleus to order an evacuation; the group had to leave – well, most of the group, Malleus stood his ground alongside Riddle, Malleus, Cater, and Jack. Ace and Deuce hurried to get those injured out of the stadium while Rook, Silver, Sebek, and Epel hurried off with the ghosts to get the teachers. Arisu and Ruggie however broke from the two cards and stood beside the group, Arisu may not be entirely strong in magic, but he said he’d back his cousin up regardless of things and Ruggie was determined to get Leona back to them.

Unlike Riddle with the tattered queen look, Leona had more of a tribal warrior appearance; His hair became a darker shade of brown and an ink-like veil with a drop of tears covering his left eyes which were glowing with yellow flame. Even his outfit changed into something more tribal, with black fur around his neck similar to a lion mane and golden fangs necklace. He also wore black corset-like underneath the orange and yellow sarong, all of those were held up by a golden belt with chains and black fur. The gray ripped-sarong acted like a tail and he was also wearing black pants with a similar pattern as his corset-like, with golden leg-bracelet and no shoes. Around his wrists, he also wore a golden bracelet and his hands were covered with ink, acting like his gloves.

His claws out, teeth shown; it wasn’t going to be an easy fight for one – especially given that he had sent the collar flying off. As he charged, Malleus was quick to summon a wall of thorns, to protect them and for them to spread apart so their spells wouldn’t interfere with one another – just as they had moved and spaced out the wall came crumbling down as sand particles.

**If I cAn’T oVeRtUrN tHiS wOrLd, I’lL jUsT tUrN iT iNtO sAnD! aLl ThE tHiNgS I DiD, tHeY wErE mEaNiNgLeSs!**

“Leona-senpai!” Arisu cried out. “Do you truly think turning everything to sand will fix your problems!”

Before he could blink, the lion pounced onto him, he was held into a death grip and looking up at Leona’s maniacal gaze. “Leona…Senpai whatever it is you’re planning…” he started off.

**PrInCe. QuEeN. iT’s AlL tHe SaMe. A nEw KiNgDoM wIlL bE mAdE! gReAtEr ThAn WhAt My BrOtHeR hAs!**

This was bad. One false move could have Arisu killed without a second’s notice. Malleus held his hand up to silently tell everyone to put their wands down, if they try attacking then Leona would snap even more so than what they’re dealing with now. This was now a matter of brains versus brawn and the players were Leona and Arisu.

**YoU hAvE tHoSe AsSeTs FemInInE**

Arisu felt his eyes widen, there was no way Leona was implying what he thinks he was implying! “Leona, don’t do something you’re going to regret!” he struggled to pull away from the crazed lion.

**I hAvE tO mAkE yOu MiNe**

“Or you could just let me go and we can pretend this never happened!” Arisu yelped as Leona pulled him close and tilted him back, exposing his neck to him.

**SeX aPpEaL iN eVeRy GeNe**

This was too much to watch, Riddle gritted his teeth and had sent a message to Cater to get a blunt object over to them, he didn’t care what it was, he wanted to beat some sense into this lion! It didn't take long for Cater to complete his task, returning a few minutes later with the requested object – a guitar. 

Leona's ears pricked up at the sounds of movement from the crowd of onlookers. With one hand he twisted Arisu around to face his friends before growling out **"He HaS tO bE wItH mE"** before gripping the boy's chin and adding **"cOmE, sWeEt ArIsU, iT's WrItTeN uP aBoVe"** as his nails lightly dug into the boy's skin.

"I'm not your sweet anything! And hell no! Why would I want to be someone as cowardly as you" Arisu snapped and was punished with nails digging deeper into his skin as he let out a pain-filled yelp. The blonde tried to pry off the arm that was wrapped around his waist only for the air to be knocked out of him by the lion tightening his grip.

 **"We'Ll ShOw ThE wOrLd OuR lOvE"** Leona announced before turning Arisu back around to face him. His glinting green eyes warned the blonde not to try anything stupid as his hand left the boy's chin and moved to rearrange the younger male's arms to his liking. The beastman's left arm which that had been around his partner's waist moved down a little to rest at the center of his lower back, while Arisu's right had was made to rest upon it with his fingers gripping Leona's upper arm. The lion took hold of the blonde's left hand with his right and pulled him back.

 **"TeLl Me I'm AdOrEd"** Leona demanded forcing Arisu to move with him in time to an imaginary two-step rhythm. **"TeLl Me I'm AdOrEd"** he repeated more forcefully only for the blonde to shake his head defiantly **"Oh, ArI, yOu KnOw HoW i LoAtHe ExErTiOn..."** the lion snarled forcing Arisu to twirl around and bend back into a dip. **"OnE wAy Or AnOtHeR, yOu WiLl Be MiNe"** he declared pulling the blonde back up so his face was pressed against him.

"I'll never be yours! And if you keep this up Malleus, Vil, nor Riddle will want to be yours!" Arisu replied stubbornly headbutting the lion's chest and making Leona lose his grip on him for a moment so the blonde began to tumble. It was only the beastman's quick reaction-time that allowed him to grab the front of Arisu's shirt before he made impact with the ground. The blonde yelped again in pain, as the older boy had slashed his chest when he made the save.

 **"YoU bElOnG tO mE"** Leona said staring down at Arisu. **"yOu AlL bElOnG tO mE"** he added staring at the faces of dormheads he was obsessed with for a long moment before returning his attention to his prey on the field.

His ears pricked up as someone approached, he looked over and started to growl as Cater started to approach with a guitar in hand. Cater was quick to assure Leona that he was here to deliver a guitar in case Arisu wants to play something for him. Leona drops his guard again at that, allowing Arisu to accept the instrument from the other. The last thing Leona then sees is the guitar going straight to this face without a chance to dodge.

*****

_Every person and their souls were different. Like before with Riddle, Arisu had found himself in Leona’s room; if he had to describe it, he would say he was in the chamber with the life-sized wizard chess. In the distance he could see Leona sitting on a throne as the role of the king, the lion narrowed his eyes and kept the defenses up – it was effective to a degree, with each piece moved he was able to see scenes before him, similar to when he was in Riddle’s ‘home’._

~~_“Ever since I was born, all I could ever see was an immovable rock in front of me”_ ~~

_Pawns – servants were whispering among themselves; praising the first prince while saying how frightening and difficult Leona is. Those three pawns were destroyed by a rook, Arisu had to shield himself from the pieces of the pawns._

_“ ~~If I were the first prince, I’m sure this is what they will say; “The first prince Leona is so prudent can use such strong magic. He’s completely different from his carefree younger brother” But since I was born second, this is all I get “Everything the second prince does is sloppy and the first prince is left to clean up after him”. No matter what I do, I can’t become number one.”~~_

_He wasn’t going to lie, constantly being compared to someone else had to be a pain in the ass – it happens in school, it happens in family, and it happens in the workplace. This doesn’t excuse his actions at the Magical Shift tournament though. Arisu shook his head and made his way further onto the board; another wall of defense around Leona but also a new scene revealed. This one made it a bit harder to sympathize with Leona – he still did since the older brother was hosting a party to show off the prince to the kingdom and scolding Leona for not showing up. The argument just ended with Leona storming out of the room without hearing him out._

_“ ~~Why did I have to go through all of that just because I was born a few years younger? No matter how hard I studied, no matter how much I perfected my magic…From the day I was born until the day I die, my brother will always be looked up to.”~~_

_The rest, Arisu tuned out as he took advantage of the distracted king and made his way up to the throne. Leona narrowed his eyes at him and all Arisu said was “Check Mate.” The field shifted and they were presented with a table; a mirror showing an insecure Leona, a flickering flame in the center with dark smoke._

_“What the fuck do you want?” Leona demanded._

_“To talk?” Arisu said softly. “You’re a powerful magician, why listen to the siren’s call of sloth?”_

_Leona narrowed his eyes. “Right, you’re here to lecture me like my older brother.”_

**_Slap_ **

_“Is it Savanaclaw’s hobby to put words in another person’s mouth?” Arisu scoffed. “Just talk to me, I want a better understanding.”_

_A sigh. “May as well humor you; nothing I’ve done got me noticed, why bother putting effort in something if people are just going to be condescending about it?” Leona leaned forward. “Smarter than your brother? It's brushed off. Master your unique magic? You're a monster. It's the same song and dance."_

_“I have heard similar comments.” He watched his senior stare at him with a surprised look. “Back when I was a kid, my school prioritized certain students – I’ll spare you the details, but the short version is unless you were affiliated with those students, the school could care less about you. You could be the smartest kid in class and they’d just talk down to you like you’re some stupid kid…I just staged a protest with my other classmates by having us collectively fail one year; good news, it worked…the bad news, we were still grounded for the summer.”_

_“And you ask me why I chose the life of being a sloth.” Leona huffed. “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. And with that, this conversation is over, you can leave now.”_

_“I’m not leaving you in this dark chamber.” Arisu shook his head. “What kind of friend would I be if I left you?”_

_“Are you listening to yourself, what makes you think I want you as a friend?”_

_“Because I doubt your brother has connections to one of the Great Seven.” Arisu laughed. “Okay, but seriously…Having unlikely friends can help a whole lot; You can probably do things your brother could only dream about, and you’re off to a good start with Ruggie. Why not start there? And heck, you’re going to have a mortal friend who was able to hit you with a guitar.”_

_Leona held his face where the guitar collided. “I’ll take your word in upstaging my brother in other ways, don’t mistake this as me being your friend, Prey.” He stood up and grabbed the candle from the table. “Alright, now get out of here, I’m not saving you.”_

“Hey! Come on, wake up!” 

Leona groaned and woke up to an annoying tanuki jabbing at him. “Screw off already.” He sat up and held his head. “What happened…?”

“Kingscholar.” The headmaster approached him. “You went into Overblot after all those negative feelings consumed you, do you not remember?”

“I went berserk? You’ve gotta be kidding me.” He looked around. “Where’s the runt?” as if that were his cue, Arisu stirred in his arms. Wait…why the hell was this kid in his arms? Leona looked down at the human and just dropped him onto the ground.

Arisu yelped startled and moved to sit up. “…Leona did you just drop me?”

“You were the one holding onto me for dear life!” Leona snapped. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“Excuse me? You were the one who was possessive about me!”

“Ahem.” Crowley cleared his throat. “Right then, we do have another matter to discuss…your placement in the tournament, Kingscholar.”

 *****  
Out in the first round, no surprise; they were faced off against the Savanaclaw team. Arisu sighed and laid on the infirmary bed with a small huff, it took a lot of convincing from not only him but others who were caught up in the mess to convince Crowley to let the team play and that they would get their revenge by defeating them. Grim was beside him and constantly apologizing, somewhere in the game Arisu had received a disc to the head courtesy of the grey cat. It wasn’t entirely a loss since before then, they were neck and neck in the scores as both Ramshackle and Savanaclaw gave it their all.

Until Savanaclaw lost to Diasomnia, to Leona and Ruggie – it wasn’t a surprise, they were silently relieved since they were relieved to be able to recover from the fight as well. Dealing with Overblot aftermath, sucks (And so did twisting a leg while running!). Arisu got a good laugh at least when Ruggie used Laugh with Me to make Leona smile. As of now, the three of them were watching the rest of the tournament on the TV provided for them, a few times they would yell at the screen whenever someone would make rookie mistakes or if there was an ‘unfair call’ from the refs. 

That evening when everything was said and done, they had some of their friends with them; Ace and Deuce came by with a get-well-soon gift from one of the stalls; they just got a stuffed rabbit and an assortment of sweets, Jack came by and sat between Arisu and Leona and gave them a small silent nod – the hidden well wishes were there in his silent gestures. The others were at the afterparty and would be checking in soon, it was fine if they took their time; the small group was just fine the way it was.

“I finally found you, uncle!” A child came running in before pouncing on Leona.

Leona groaned in pain and sighed. “Damn it…the annoying one is here.” 

The group got a good look at the new comer; short red hair with yellow tips, large brown eyes and a pair of lion ears. He was wearing a yellow tunic with a triangle pattern around the collar and brown pants, as well as a beaded necklace and bracelet.

“Uncle…Leona?” Jack asked

Leona just huffed; “This little furball’s Cheka, my brother’s son…he’s my nephew.”

Shut up. This little ball of energy is the reason Leona went through all this trouble? Okay, it was time for his own little revenge, Arisu just grinned at Leona; “He’s such a precious angel!”

“Shut it.” Leon turned back to Cheka. “If you’re here…” he sighed. “Alright, where’s your father?”

Cheka smiled and pointed to the door. “He’s outside! Hey, when are you coming home? Next week? The week after that? Ah! Did you read my letters?”

Leona winced. “Please stop shouting…I’ll be home on the holiday.” 

Seeing Leona trying to handle a kid was actually the most amusing thing ever. The group was slowly losing it until they were in full-blown laughter, it caught the attention of the little one who looked over at the group curiously.

“Are you Uncle Leona’s friends?”

Ace had a huge grin on his face; “Yep! We’re his best friends~ Right, Uncle Leona~?”

Ruggie was laughing as well. “Very best friends!”

Leona just growled at them, he let them have their fun for the time being; he wasn’t in the mood to deal with his brother but…he may as well get the visit out of the way. That would wait until he was certain that the group were out of the infirmary; it wouldn’t be long; the nurse would come in and make sure everyone was in decent health to send them back to their dorms. He tuned out whatever Cheka was talking about with the group of prey before honing on Arisu, he was the first to be on his feet and able to walk out of the room with his friends after wishing him a good night. Ruggie had to get a brace on before he was sent back to his dorm. The room was just him and Cheka before he turned back to the door.

“You can come in now, Farena.” Leona ordered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I feel like this is coming up:
> 
> Arisu's fighting ideas: I am literally rolling a die to see if an attack is successful or not. 1-10 Fail. 11-20 Succeeds
> 
> OB Dwarf < Pickax [I rolled a 12]  
> OB Riddle > keeps Arisu from using the croquet mallet attack [I rolled a 7]  
> and now here: OB Leona < Guitar to the face [I rolled a 13]
> 
> So yeah. Anything with Arisu in magic or fighting I am rolling a die to see the success rate.


	15. Chapter 15

Laughter was what filled the grounds of the Ramshackle dorm, Arisu had invited his friends over to play in the leaves for a while until he had to head over to Savanaclaw for the one on one sessions; after learning about what happened with Riddle and those who were caught up in that, Tori had forced Crowley to make sure those who were roped into the mess were given mandatory therapy sessions – this meant Arisu got to see his friends inside and outside the office more than he’d like, the group sessions did help a lot though and it was in silent agreement whatever went on behind those doors stayed behind there. As it stood, Arisu’s schedule for the day was to play in the leaves with Ace, Deuce, Epel and Jack before he had to leave to be by Leona’s side. 

Leona was another story; in the office his silence was pretty revealing; he never really talked much during the group sessions but his body language had a lot to say when certain topics were brought up. He would let out a low growl when his family was brought up as well as flatten his ears and have a twitchy tail; advert his gaze from the others any time Arisu was brought up, holding silent concern in his eyes; a prideful smile when it came to sharing some accomplishments; when it came to one on ones with other students, Leona just kept quiet and let his partners do the talking and even then he still let his body language talk for him. And it brought them to the now where Arisu was just killing time before he had to head out.

Ace moved over and sat beside him, he held his shoulder and gave a small assuring smile to him. “Nervous, Alice?”

“Am I that easy to read?” Arisu looked up at him. “You were with him last week; how did it go?”

A small shrug. “We mostly watched game shows.” He said. “We actually made a great team and he said he was surprised with how well I knew certain topics.”

“Are you guys talking about Leona-senpai?” Epel sat beside Arisu with Jack. “Well, I guess I should ask if you guys are talking about your sessions with him.”

“Yeah, I guess I’m just a little nervous how things will go between us.” Arisu laid back in the leaves so he was staring up at the sky. “You know he refuses to look at me and I have my doubts he’s going to talk to me.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” Jack took his hand and pulled him back to sitting. “But you two _do_ have to talk since this is your second time getting targeted…what the hell was that about?”

“Because I know no-one knows the meaning of subtlety and I don’t feel like dancing around.” Arisu looked over at Ace and Deuce. “You two tell him.”

The two looked at each other and nodded before turning back to Jack. “He’s cursed.” They said unanimously.

“What?!” Jack looked at Arisu. “What the hell kind of curse are you under?!”

“Blood curse.” He said simply. “Basically, I and many other mortals before me that are born into the Sennen Coven are being punished for something we had no control over – the War of Shadows where Shadow Alchemy was used.”

Epel frowned at that. “I don’t suppose there’s a way to get rid of that curse?”

“If there is a way, don’t you think we’d have removed it already?” Arisu sighed. “Look, it’s fine-”

“It is not fine!” Epel shouted. “You’re a walking target for anything dark and malicious!” he folded his hands and sighed. “Okay, this is what we’re going to do; you’re going to head over to Savanaclaw and get through the day with Leona, we’re going to ask around to see if anyone knows anything about curses and how to get rid of the one you have.”

“Starting to feel like a broken record; this curse was placed in the days of the Pharaoh.” Arisu reminded. “It’s old and I doubt there’s a way to remove this.” He got up and brushed his pants off of the leaves. “But I’m not going to stop you; I only wish you boys luck.” He smiled and left the Ramshackle dorm.

The group watched him leave before they parted ways of their own; Arisu was right, this was an ancient curse and it probably wouldn’t be easy to remove but they still wanted to try for their friend. They didn’t entirely have a plan except ask around their respective dorms and begin their own investigation (well, everyone went to their respective dorm except for Jack, he just left with Epel to the Pomefiore dorm.). While this was going on at the other dorms, Arisu was on the way to Savanaclaw; upon arrival, he met up with Ruggie who just silently led him to the prefect’s room.

A few knocks on the door and Arisu let himself in. Leona was sitting at a chess setup and playing a single game, he only looked up at the boy for a brief second before going back to his solo game. Arisu smiled and sat beside him, he took out his phone and just started to play his own game – candy crush, he was a sucker for the mindless stuff to dull the mind. The prefect just scoffed at the sight of the game, shaking his head. They sat like this in silence for a while before Leona finally decided to break the ice; he was a predator after all, he wasn’t going to hesitate around some kid that was low on the food chain.

“How are you holding up?” he finally asked.

Arisu looked up and shrugged, “Well…I now know why lions are called the King of the Savana; but I’m doing decent enough, what about you?”

Leona took a rook off the board. “So-so. Malleus told me what happened…how the fuck are you still sane after that?”

“The whole me being your queen, thing?” Arisu turned his phone off. “I’m starting to sound like a broken record; just know that I’ve grown used to this – and before you start anything, don’t bother; I’ve heard it all, I know I ‘shouldn’t have to be used to it’, and I respect the views. But that’s the situation, so please don’t bring the topic up.”

“Now who’s putting words in people’s mouth.” Leona looked him in the eyes. “Honestly, whatever is happening to your life I could care less about; you said you’re used to being targeted by the wicked, it’s concerning but you also said you’re managing. You’re fighting through the odds…that’s really all that matters.”

“So, you’re not going to go on a tirade of trying to break this?”

“Do you want me to try breaking it?” Leona asked as he removed another pawn.

“If you want to, I’m not going to stop you.” 

“It’s a pointless effort.” He shrugged, there was a pause in his movement. “…We’re moving from this topic; Halloween is creeping up and that means Pomefiore’s collaborated Halloween Party with Scarabia is coming up…are you going to attend?”

Arisu smiled and moved a pawn on the board. “I usually just make treats back home and I’m actually going to be making candied apples and spiders.” He smiled. “Actually, back in Sunnydale – a town where everyone knows their neighbors, my family’s famous for a treat station! Idia managed to ‘upgrade’ an Easy-bake oven one year and we would have that for us to use in our station along with a counter stove.” He grinned. “Plug those suckers in, and we have a station to make sweets!”

“Candied apples and spiders.” Leona repeated. “And they’re so good that your family’s famous for it.” A smirk. “Maybe you should bring them to the party.”

“I don’t have a costume.” 

“I don’t think you need one unless you do Pomefiore’s costume contest.” Leona shrugged and growled when he saw Arisu claim a king. “What do you need for your treats?”

“Aww Leona, are you asking to help cook?”

Leona just glared at him, “Just give me your damn grocery list.”

“Alright; apples, caramel, jolly ranchers, almonds, pumpkins, just to name a few.” Arisu listed. “Oh! And don’t worry about things like sugar, flour, and the stuff, Headmaster Crowley rotates that stuff!”

This was supposed to be a one-on-one session between them, how the hell did Leona get to talking about dessert planning? With a sigh, Leona just reset the game and listened to Arisu plan out his treats and what made them popular with the town – the main thing was making a show out of it, the kids really enjoyed seeing the treats be made and always lined up to see the fresh batch made before they collected their treats and went off to the next house. Of course, it helped that as a small bonus that the house would be decorated with some props here and there; last year, they had a skeleton animatronic that would sing Puttin on the Ritz and this year would be a Michael Myers animatronic that would just move in the direction of the guest when people came up to get their goodies. Even though Arisu did his best to hide it, Leona noticed it off the bat; kid was homesick. Couldn’t blame him, from the sound of things, he was used to family traditions…Damn it.

Reluctantly, Leona asked Arisu how many people were usually on the dessert station (minimum of two), he was only doing this because he owed it to him after the OB episode and that was it. He just simply told the prey to get everything ready and that he would assist him in making things for the party. Arisu just blinked at him and exchanged numbers with him, assuring him that he would text when he had everything arranged for them to begin work – honestly, he was surprised that the slothful lion was going to help him, but he didn’t question it; the last thing he wanted was to upset him and have him change his mind last second. With that said and done, he played against Leona in chess, both were just as fiercely competitive and tactful as the other, and if Leona had to admit (he would never admit to anything), he was actually having fun in the game with the prey. It was assured that the rest of the afternoon would go without a problem. 

*****

The ballroom _had_ to be perfect, it was one of the many special occasions that it would be dressed up for the upcoming Halloween party (and no, Pomefiore didn’t care that it was still weeks away, they wanted everything to be ready. Perfection took time after all). Rook nodded in approval as the streamers were up and gracing the walls like garland, some of the underlings were getting the lighting done and the stage for the costume contest set up; Monstro Lounge and the ghosts would be taking care of the catering, what was missing? They had the elegance, the fun, Scarabia (and Ignihyde if they could get Idia out of his lair) was providing the music, what else would they need for a grand night like this?

“Hey, Rook?”

Of course! The beauty! Rook turned and looked over at Epel and Jack, scruffy looking from their time with Arisu, but nothing a quick brushing and uniform adjustment can’t fix. “Ah~ Monsieur Petite Apple and Monsieur Howl, wonderful timing, we could use some models to promote this place!”

“Uh we’d love to help.” Epel muttered. “But, we’re here to ask if you’ve seen Prefect Schoenheit lately?”

“Rio du Poison is currently in alchemy right now; I’m overseeing the Halloween preparations.” Rook’s expression turned serious. “Why, what’s wrong?”

“We were going to ask if he knew how to remove an old curse.” Jack said. “If he did, great; that makes our jobs easier.”

Rook hummed. “It depends on the curse, I’m afraid.” He turned to the underlings; “Carry on in here, I have important matters to discuss.” He led Jack and Epel from the school’s ballroom and into the halls. “Now then, what are the details of the curse?”

“Okay, so we’re pretty certain this curse is fucking ancient.” Epel winced when Rook swatted his head. “It’s a blood curse and it happened because someone from the days of Pharaoh used Shadow Alchemy.”

“I see…” Rook crossed his arms. “I’m warning you now, ancient curses aren’t easy to break; I’ll look around for you – on one condition.” He grinned at them. “Your friends are a bit rough around the edges and I’m certain Rio du Roses will appreciate this – so will Chevalier and Monsieur Magicam – you boys, are to model for pictures to promote the dance!”

It was a ridiculous request, but they reluctantly agreed and silently hoped that Heartslabyul had a better chance in asking Riddle about the harsh situation. Parting ways and thanking their senior, the duo made their way down the hall and talked about their next move – as well as talking about Arisu and how his time with Leona were going. As they entered the hall of mirrors, they saw a peculiar sight before them; a woman was kneeling on the floor sobbing into her hands and dressed in a white dress. Epel took out a handkerchief from his breast pocket and made his way over to her, kneeling beside her and offering it to her to cry into. The woman stopped and looked up at Epel with tearstained eyes, she took the piece of fabric and started to dry her eyes as Epel started to give comforting words to her.

There was a moment of calm, just as the woman was about to get close to the student is when her calm and serene look turned into horror. Epel barely had time to ask her what was wrong before he felt rope around his neck and started to pull him away from her; Jack was on the scene and pounced, grabbing the boy and yanking the rope off Epel’s neck, they turned to where the woman was but she wasn’t there. They just stared at each other and the empty spot, unable to speak or move even as their companions from Heartslabyul came through the mirror and asked what the hell happened to them; they recounted the encounter which left their friends in a confused daze, they could see the strange woman as a spirit of some kind but that certainly didn’t explain the sudden rope attack. 

Ace shook his head and said that they should go pick Arisu up from Savanaclaw and begin their costume shopping – Epel told them to head on without him; none of the Pomefiore students would allow him to wear a ‘store bought costume’ as they weren’t ‘of high quality’. It wasn’t something they were keen on doing since he was just attacked, but they agreed to his wishes and watched him go through the Pomefiore mirror before they went through the Savanaclaw mirror. Strange enough, most of the beast students were on edge, Grim was part of them with his fur sticking up and letting out soft growls every now and then; this got everyone worried and concerned as they neared the dorm’s lounge where Leona and Arisu were. The lion prefect was holding Arisu close, his tail was twitching as he kept his gaze in the room, he turned to the group and shoved the boy over to them with just a single sentence; “Take him, and get the hell out.” If it were Leona on a regular day, they would be shooting back with their own remarks; but this wasn’t a regular day, something had most of the students on edge.

Jack looked at them; “It’s probably the woman Epel and I had saw earlier.”

Leona looked over and raised an eyebrow. “Start talking, Howl.”

“When Epel and I were about to come collect Flower Boy, we found a bride crying in the Hall of Mirrors.” Jack started off. “Epel went up to her to comfort her and to dry her tears, she started to smile before staring in horror – rope showed up and wrapped around his neck. I got him freed but when we turned back, the woman was gone.”

“So that’s where she ran off to.” Leona huffed. “I was bringing Arisu to the lobby when a commotion happened. We got down and I see one of our students dodging the display spears. The woman you described was screaming ‘stop’ at the top of her lungs as well as to ‘leave him alone!’ The spears stopped and the woman left the scene. We’ve been trying to search for her.”

“Should mention that when Leona said she left, she vanished as she got out the door; we have a ghost bride.” Arisu pointed out. “But the strange thing? I’ve heard my fair stories of corpse brides that this is the first I’ve heard of anyone being attacked just by going near the bride.”

“Well we’re not asking Crowley.” Ace crossed his arms. “Rule of three; we talked to him before Riddle OB’ed, and then we talked to him when the ‘accidents’ happened, if we talk to him now, we’re probably going to die by getting involved with her.”

Deuce nodded in agreement. “Therefore, we should just send a text in a group chat telling others to avoid the ghost bride.” He took his phone out and went to the Heartslabyul chatroom. “Problem solved and hopefully by the end of Halloween we don’t have to deal with her.”

Leona sighed and took his phone out. “Only because I’m not dealing with this; I’ll let the dorm leaders know.”

“You…are going to let Malleus know, right?” Arisu stared at Leona who froze for a minute. “You _do_ have his number, don’t you?”

“…Right, someone better find him and relay the message in person.” Leona sighed. “Question is…what class does he have?”

Arisu’s eyes lit up at that. “He’s in the music room, he’s working on a solo for the class!”

“Alright track star.” Ace patted Deuce’s shoulder. “Get running, tell him to warn his dorm.”


	16. Halloween pt.1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FOUND OUT THAT NRC CELEBRATES HALLOWEEN A WEEK LONG! WHICH MEANS MORE HALLOWEEN!

[Please standby while the Halloween Chapters are being made]


	17. Halloween pt. 2

[please standby for Halloween chapters]


	18. Call Me King/Finals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have nothing to say except THANK YOU LOTUS FOR HELPING WITH THE SONG CHAPTER!
> 
> Call me Master - Blood on the Dance Floor  
> King - Kanaria

_It was official; if this kept up then Arisu would be able to travel around the world without worrying about finances or proper documents. He found himself sitting on a small raft in the middle of a storm, despite the harsh winds and choppy waves, he was sitting steady. Before him he saw a ship get hit by lightning and the crew were scattering to get into lifeboats; there was one who went back to save a dog – thankfully the good boy made it out alright. The sailor however, he was hit by some debris as he was diving into the water. Arisu was close to diving into the water to try and save him – phantom appearance be damned; he wasn’t going to let someone drown._

_Thankfully, he didn’t have to; he saw a mermaid save him and take him to shore. He was alive thanks to her, and it was love at first sight for her. Arisu smiled and laid back on the raft to watch the scene before him; she was singing to him and helped him come to, and just in time as someone came to collect the sailor – no, to collect the prince. A mermaid falling in love with a prince; it was actually sweet._

Waking up, Arisu stretched and made his way down to the kitchen; Grim was sitting on the coffee table in the lounge looking over a notebook and muttering to himself, the ghosts were out and about doing their own thing, and Arisu was starting the morning with studying and have a cinnamon roll for breakfast; there was no point in going to the cafeteria since everyone and their brother is bound to be hold up in their rooms and studying like crazy – finals were around the corner after all and the tension was high. Though a studious one, Arisu wasn’t too worried about it; far from it actually, he took amazing notes and would attend after school tutoring sessions with Riddle, Trey, and Cater – among others that were there as well; it made studying all the easier whenever testing days were creeping around the corner.

Setting his plate on the table, Arisu grabbed a can of tuna from the cupboard and opened it – Grim’s nose twitched, but he remained in the lounge and stayed there even after his human brought the food and set it by him. “So for the application for this problem… If 2 choices remain, I simply…” he continued to mutter into his notes. Seeing Grim not jumping at the tuna first chance he got was a sight to beheld. Arisu grinned and took a quick picture before uploading it to Magicam and captioning it as ‘The end of the world is here’ – he giggled quietly and turned his phone off before going back to his own breakfast. The moment of quiet was short lived, the main door was heard opening and a set of footsteps made their way to the kitchen; Arisu looked up to see Rook, Leona, and Riddle staring down at him, he may be feeling good this morning but he certainly wasn’t awake for whatever Rook was selling today.

“I’m not sharing my cinnamon roll stash.” Arisu warned. “They’re what’s keeping me sane for finals.”

Rook shook his head and sat across from him. “We’re not here for that, Petite Lapin, we’re here for you.”

“What do you mean?” he took a bite of his roll.

“He means about you sleepwalking, Arisu.” Riddle spoke up. “I knew you were having problems with dreams, but sleepwalking?” He nodded to Rook who brought up a replay of last night’s events; Arisu getting out of bed and walking up to a mirror with a dazed expression on his face.

Arisu wasn’t entirely amused that they had to breach his privacy like this, but…the sleepwalking part was concerning to him. He just looked up at his seniors with a silent confused look on his face; how long has this been going on? 

Taking in the confused look, Riddle sighed and closed his eyes; “Interrupted sleep.” He said abruptly. “Stress, anxiety, changes in sleep environment or different sleep settings.” He listed. “To name a few reasons why one would sleepwalk.” He laid a hand on his chin; “Of course, self-treatment is going to be difficult; Terra is the best in the field so talking to a professional has been in place…I don’t entirely trust Grim enough to be responsible in leading you back to bed, so we’ll have to ask the ghosts to do this.”

“The fuck? When did you become an expert in this?” Leona demanded.

“My parents are semi-famous healers.” Riddle sighed. “There is a small number of things I’m grateful for in that family and that’s being able to try and help where needed.” He looked at the blond before them. “A part of me is tempted to have you stay with us at Heartslabyul but if we do that that might worsen the condition.”

“You said stress might be a factor.” Rook reminded. “Perhaps previous cases were due to stress; him, Monsieur Heart and Monsieur Spade were on the verge of expulsion – yes, cher, I’m aware of what happened; it’s impossible to get anything by me.” He looked at Arisu. “Then there was the incident at the Unbirthday Party, Magical Shift had to be stressful as well given that friends were getting hurt…and now here we are with finals.”

“Relaxing before bed can help a lot too.” Riddle brought up. “So; this is what I propose as Arisu’s seniors-”

“Excuse me? When did you become my sleep doctor?” Arisu demanded. “Look, it has been a stressful year so far, I’m not going to lie; but when finals are over, we can go back to a normal cycle and we won’t have to worry about anything!”

“He’s right, after finals we’ll be working on preparing for break.” Leona pointed out. “Let’s just have the ghosts guide him back to bed for the finals week and then when everything is said and done, he’ll be back to normal.”

Riddle crossed his arms with a small huff. “Very well.” He looked to the lounge. “Your stray’s been pretty quiet lately…”

“Yeah, he’s been studying…which is a surprise.” Arisu finished off the role and put the empty plate into the sink before getting a glass of juice. “Let’s go collect him and head on to class.”

The saying went ‘It’s easier said than done’ for a reason; arriving at the school was the easiest part of the whole ordeal, the moment everyone was in their assigned classes for the first day of finals was another story all together. The entire week had something for everyone; there were stories from the second-years that Ruggie just started howling with laughter during the history final and he was a few seconds away from going entirely feral – everyone nearly had a heart attack when he started laughing; Mr. Trein hardly batted an eyelash at it and just stared at the hyena boy and calmly stating that at least one Savanaclaw student loses it around this time. The same thing had happened over at alchemy where a third-year stood and held an apple in hand before loudly declaring that everyone was going to pass before taking a bite out of it – the attempt to recreate the Queen’s Apple was foiled, Master Crewel had at least one student trying a stunt like this and would give a recipe for a calming potion instead so the student would be in a tranquil state and have a clear head to work with. Heck, it was why he had those bottles out for students to take a drink from and go through the rest of finals without the unneeded stress. 

As for the first years; Jack, Epel, Ace, Deuce, Grim, and Arisu; things were a different story. When they had their history finals, Arisu and Epel stared their teacher in the eyes as they took their I-pods out and started up their music to work with; when offered about the extra credit by performing the current song playing on the playlist, they went for it – Epel had Jose Cuervo playing and he added his own dance number to it; Arisu’s song was a little on the ‘risky’ side with Madness of Duke Venomania. The look of death in their eyes as they just did it without fear was enough to let the other students know how done they were with finals. It went even to alchemy and hearing those fateful words from Master Crewel were the bells of sweet relief. 

“Time is up, you dogs.” He said sternly. “Put your pens down obediently, and pass your answer sheets forward. That concludes all of the written exams for this class.”

“Oh thank the heavens above!” Jack threw his arms in the air. 

“Salvation is here at least!” Epel hugged Arisu.

“Sit!” Crewel snapped. “It’s still too early to celebrate, all the bad boys that will get failing marks will be taking remedial classes over Christmas break.” He pointed the pointer at the class. “I _will_ whip you into shape, so be ready.” He stood straight. “Class dismissed.”

No need to tell them that twice; everyone just barreled out of the classroom and hurried out. The fresh wave of freedom was gracing everyone as they made their way to the dining hall to get something to eat – after a long and stressful week of finals, most everyone neglected the basic diet and switched up for something equally unhealthy as staying up all night. With the group together at the usual table – actually, the usual table grew lately; before it was just the Heartslabyul quintet, Grim, and Arisu, then they added Jack, Epel, and Rook to their ranks, and now…Leona and Ruggie were with them. The table was growing and it was something else.

Arisu just shrugged and brought out a Tupperware box; “Well, since I’ve made more than I need; why don’t we have celebratory cinnamon rolls.” He offered.

“Alice-chan is so considerate~” Ace hugged him and took one. “Finally, some food!”

Leona ruffled Arisu’s hair. “See? Finals are over, you’ll be getting a good night’s rest in no time.” He grinned and took one. “Take a page from his book, herbivore, listening to your seniors is beneficial to your health.”

“Whatever you say.” Ace sighed and ate his cinnamon roll. “What the hell is everyone going to do now? I mean, we’re freed to whatever we want and I’m going to be playing basketball until I drop.”

Riddle shook his head, “I’m going to be taking Arisu on hedgehog duty before Leona drags him off to get a well-needed nap.”

Ace fell silent and looked at his friend. “Arisu…what happened this time?” he took out a familiar book

“Good question; I was on a raft in a storm.” Arisu shrugged. “Out on the ocean blue.”

“Oh good, something else; _To dream of an ocean represents powerful uncertainty in your life. Confrontation with negative situations or negative emotions. Your biggest struggles or most baffling challenges.’_ Right, that’s not foreboding at all.” Ace huffed and put the book away.

Deuce just stared at him, “Why do you even have that dream book to begin with?”

Ace had a defeated look in his eyes, “Because this saved my life when it came to extra credit assignments; just write down what each symbol in dreams mean and get fifty extra credit points.”

Riddle pinched the bridge of his nose after hearing that. “I’m not going to ask…if I don’t ask, I’ll stay in blissful ignorance.” Trey just rubbed his back and nodded in silent agreement, Cater just gave a thumbs up as well. “We’re missing someone…did…someone tell him he was welcome to join us?” 

“There’s no need.” Malleus said as he approached. “I was finishing up in gym.” He sat at the end with the rest of his group. “I’ll never understand why everyone puts so much stress into this week.”

“Tch. Of course, you wouldn’t.” Leona looked up at him. “Hey…Draconia, you lurk around abandoned places, right? Does that include Ramshackle?”

“It did before the sunflower moved in.” Malleus took a cinnamon roll offered to him. “Why do you ask?”

“When you lurk around Ramshackle, did anything seem odd to you?” Leona pressed.

Malleus just smirked at him, “Ah, ah, ah, Kingscholar.” He tutted. “You know not to ask a Faerie for anything you can’t pay back. Information from thee before information from me.”

“Fucking Faerie.” Leona growled. “Forget I asked anything.”

“Boys, break it up.” Arisu scolded. “We’re here to relax before they put the scores up.”

There was a silent agreement before everyone went about their usual conversation pieces before they would part for the rest of the day; Deuce went to the track-meet, Ace went to play a few rounds of basketball, and Arisu was led to Heartslabyul with his small group; he waved the others off who went to do their own things. Upon arriving at the dorm, Arisu was at ease when he was with the hedgehogs – it was relaxing and he always giggled whenever he would watch them eat. Quiet and lazy afternoons like this were needed after everything that’s been happening at the school, and Arisu was ready to just pass out asleep while holding the little blue hedgehog in his hands – he was definitely going to get a pet hedgehog when he returned home.

The thought of returning home brought Arisu back to full consciousness, he sat up and looked over to Riddle in silent concern; winter break was coming up and…he didn’t really want him to return to that prison – even if it was only for break. It would have to be something to talk about at a later date; tension in the school was high enough as is and there was really no need to bring it up now and cause more sleepless nights. 

“Ah~ Freedom at last~” All eyes were on the new comer, Che’nya had made another appearance as he was laying on his back and using Trey’s lap as a pillow. The strange boy smiled up at the others. “No doubt everyone will go back to a healthier lifestyle; no more instant noodles and three in the morning stress studying.”

Riddle looked over at him and sighed; “Trey, we’ve talked about this; you can’t just keep feeding strays.” He crossed his arms. “Che’nya, what are you doing here?”

Che’nya grinned at Riddle. “I’m just here to see how your Alice is, Riddle~ Finals may be over but that doesn’t mean he should start celebrating soon.” He got up and poked Riddle’s nose. “After all, test scores have yet to be announced and they could make or break a student.” He stood up and stretched. “I have to go now, bye bye~!”

“Is he always like that?” Cater asked

“You have no idea.” Trey said with a sigh. “There’s more to him than being a cryptic case, but…as a familiar cat would say ‘The Cheshire Cat knows all but doesn’t tell all’ and it sadly applies here.” He looked over at the dozing boy nearby. “We should get Arisu to a bed.”

“’m fine.” Arisu muttered.

“We know you are.” Riddle gently removed the hedgehog from his arms. “But, surely just laying on a bed is much more comfortable than the ground.” He smiled as Arisu just whined a little. “Thank you, for helping out Ari…” a tired thumbs up was all he got.

*****

It’s been a week since the finals; Arisu was walking with an extra pep in his step, he’s been getting a goodnight’s rest and there hasn’t been a case of stress hitting him since finals. He was able to relax more and the cases of sleepwalking had diminished greatly! Earlier today he got to watch a brief show of Ace and Grim going at it again, the odd thing about the particular show was that they swore they were going to use magic but they immediately stopped themselves before parting from the fight, it was a strange sight to behold but…Arisu wasn’t going to worry about it – perhaps after being scolded by a teacher one too many times finally caught up to them. It was hopeful thinking at least. As of now he smiled down at his history final and started beaming again; a solid 91 in history! It was probably the highest mark he was ever going to get out of the rest of the finals.

Alchemy was the only other class he had to go through to get his final test papers from Master Crewel. Tension was hanging as the teacher walked in with the test scores in hands. He turned to the students and narrowed his eyesas everyone was still talking with friends. “Alright, you dogs. It’s time for class to begin. Sit obediently at your desks and I’ll start distributing your test papers.”

Epel folded his hands together and took a breath; “I’ve accepted my fate since day one.”

Grim was sitting on the desk, arched and ready to pounce. “Test results, come to papa!”

“Grim, stop fussing!” Crewel ordered. “Stay, boy, stay!” he watched as the creature huffed and sat upright. “I’ll start calling your seat numbers, so come up here and get them. Number 1!”

The funny thing about this was that it was supposed to be the most stressful of times and most students would be walking forward like they were on death row. Lately, everyone’s been holding their head high and proud with a confident air around them; Arisu shook his head, either this was a false bravado or people were realizing that going down a drastic route wasn’t the way to go about it. He went up and collected his test score and took a breath before looking at it before grinning to himself; 90!

“92 points!” Ace jumped from his desk and punched the air. “Celebration at Arisu’s!”

“Nice job, Ace!” Arisu showed his friend his paper. “You actually got two points more than me.” 

“88 points!? To think that the day I would get over 80 would come…” Deuce leaned forward and hugged Arisu. “Alice is our lucky charm, no-one else can have him!”

Epel shook his head. “79…and as I said, I’ve accepted my fate ages ago.” He looked at Deuce. “You mind letting him go?”

“No!” Grim pounced and climbed under Arisu’s chin, he placed his test scores on top of the boy’s “Look Ari! I got 85 points!”

Master Crewel had to chuckle at the antics of the friends, they had studied pretty well this year – yet compared to the quiz they had…strange enough everyone in first year scored an average of 90 in alchemy and history. It was a little suspicious but what could be done? Everyone studied hard, there shouldn’t be anything to be concerned about. He called attention to everyone and began the lecture of the day.

With class over for the day; everyone was gathered in the halls and looking over the top 50; the expressions started from worried and some were turning into a relieved expression, others were freaking out whenever they came across number 13 and the begging started – only to finally thank whatever deity they were praying to that they finally found their name. Arisu looked at the board and stared in disbelief; number 13 on the board was his name, now he was just confused why students were having a meltdown seeing his name on the board. Even Ace was paling when he saw Arisu’s name on the 13th slot, he looked at him and had a nervous smile.

“Wow! Number thirteen on the board!” Ace praised.

Arisu shrugged. “I mean…I wasn’t expecting that high on the list, but…Riddle, Trey, and Cater’s been amazing tutors after school.” 

Grim was sitting tense on his shoulder. “Well…you know what they say about the number thirteen, you’re really lucky!” 

“Come on, you guys did pretty good too.” Arisu moved back to the board. “I’m sure your names are on here somewhere.” 

“10, 20…none!” Grim was starting to panic. “48, 49, 50…none! My name’s not here!”

“Mine’s not here, too.” Deuce was paling.

“This is bad!” Grim held his face. “If I’m not in the top fifty, I’ll be breaching the contract!”

“Contract?” Arisu repeated with Ace and Deuce. 

“What contract?” Arisu demanded. 

“You…You signed a deal with him too, Grim-!?” Ace choked out.

“Ace, that look on your face…” Deuce was another shade of white.

“What the hell did you three _do_!?” Arisu cried, he watched as they stuttered out a reply and paled ever so slightly when he saw anemones on their heads. “Oh my god, you guys didn’t…tell me you didn’t meet with the school’s mafia!”

It wasn’t just them, there were other students who were in the same boat; Arisu watched as everyone who had one of those anemones on their heads being pulled away from the halls. He held his forehead and sighed, what the hell did his friends get into this time?! He looked up and saw Epel and Jack approaching him, he gave them the brief rundown before taking his phone out and sending a quick message to Riddle ‘Ace, Deuce, and Grim did something stupid again; shouldn’t take me too long to get them out of trouble’. With all having been said and done, the three turned and walked after the group, silently following them to get more information about the current situation. 

No wonder everyone was walking with a confident air when it came to collecting their test scores; so many people made a deal with Azul Ashengrotto to pass the finals! It probably wouldn’t really be much to go off of, but Arisu was going to get those idiots out of the prefect’s grasps; his plan on doing so…he would figure something out when he got to that bridge. For now, he just led the charge into Octavinelle where he was still in awe at how the place was completely submerged underwater and one could still breathe under it, but now was not the time to enjoy the scenery.

Coming to the Monstro Lounge, the anemone students were standing before a stage where Azul Ashengrotto stood with the twins beside him. He grinned at the students and tipped his fedora to the students in greeting before speaking out to them. “Well, well, if it isn’t the unfortunate students who couldn’t make it to the Top 50. Welcome to Mostro Lounge, I know that you all are already familiar with me, but let me introduce myself once again; I am Azul Ashengrotto. I am Octavinelle Dorm’s Prefect as well as Mostro Lounge’s manager. And now…Starting today, I will be your Master.”

There was such thing as being cocky, Arisu huffed and took advantage of the stunned silence from the students. “You’re definitely the ‘king’, Prefect.”

Eyes were on him now, and Azul’s smirk had yet to fade. “Oh my? Is that ‘lucky 13’ I see with us?” he chuckled. “Mr. Shai, it’s wonderful to see you in our lounge again, though I must say…hearing you call me ‘king’ is something new, not that I’m complaining one bit of course.” 

“Don’t flatter yourself.” Arisu snapped. **“Stockade! So smart, so you think.”** He pointed to him. **“You hey, you’re a nappy pain my darling, just wait! I don’t know a thing.”** He motioned to the students that had the anemones on their heads. **“No way this is fair, you’re bitter to me, the peasant’s willful wishes waste like scraps of irony.”** His eyes narrowed at him. **“A cold, congruent, contract, kept alive in reverie; where no one knows the numbers next in line or where to go – that sort of edging, eager, virgin happy show.”**

Azul narrowed his eyes slightly at him, but the boy made his way to the stage and kept going with his stance; he held his hand up to keep the twins from pouncing at him, he was curious to see where this was going to lead.

 **“I don’t have a single new request to ask of you, it’s the same as ever, watch your back no warning (warning).”** Arisu stood at the base of the stage and stared up at him. **“Taking all my stress, there’s only just one thing to do; brace yourself for all my love’s attack now.** ”

Azul halted him before he could get further than that, he pressed his cane into Arisu’s chest and stared down at him. **“What you need, is just a little discipline – and I got a heavy dose of the right medicine.”** He pushed him back and brought the cane back to him. “Dear me, despite our atmosphere being a fine setting you go and break the rules of causing a scene in a fine area…you truly don’t know who you’re dealing with, Mr. Shai.” A dangerous glint was in his eyes. **“I’m dominant by definition, I’m turned on by your submission – the dark side is how we’ve been living, let me show you what you’ve been missing.”**

He stepped off the stage and approached him – Arisu kept his ground as Azul made his way over, not flinching or faltering for even a second; this simply would not do, Azul smirked and grabbed his arm before pulling him close so they were chest to chest, he looked over to the trapped students once more, and decided to use Arisu as a little example of the situation they were in. **“You, you, you are… You are my slaves, my little fucking disasters.” He reminded them. “I, I, I am…I am your god, call me, call me, call me your master.”**

Arisu shoved him off him and put distance between them again, causing Azul to laugh at his expression. **“Acting oh so innocent; you are my sin, my darling darling - laughing out so cool again, all of the pain is blown to bits.”** He straightened himself up and gave a light shrug. **“Clumsily I’ll die and then all of the joy is all that’s left my lo-Lo-Love oh, ra-ta-ta - filling with hate I cry, I’m breaking down.”** He lowered his head slightly, if this was the game he was going to play, so be it; **“Once again, I have a new request to ask of you - it’s the same as ever, watch your back no warning (warning); taking all my stress, there’s only just one thing to do, brace yourself for all my love’s attack now.”**

Seeing the light submission from him brought a wide grin to Azul’s face; “A request you say?” he repeated. “Then **tonight, we’re a living dead – lure you to VIP the happy ending is your name on a gold page, no more fears and no more tears.”** He grabbed his chin and forced him to meet his eyes. **“You are my favorite client, and this is love at first bite, bind you in a rope tight…”** He chuckled. “You’re still an unruly first year; **What you need, is just a little discipline and I got a heavy dose of the right medicine.** Why not help around the lounge until I get the VIP Lounge ready for you.” He pulled away and smirked at him. “Perhaps by then you’ll be tamed.” 

He left a stunned Arisu in place as he ordered the twins to oversee the new employees to start their first day at the lounge. It was going to be a long day for everyone.


	19. Poor Unfortunate Souls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPECIAL THANKS TO WENDY_PARKER, MEGAN, DANISMULTIMUSE, AND LUNA AKEMI! You guys are awesome in helping out!

Despite how it looked, Arisu was actually glad he was bussing tables with some of the other students with anemones on their head; it got him close enough to quietly ask about their deals – every single story was the same with some alterations; they wanted to pass the finals for one reason over another, even then, he still had to get a better picture so he knew what to say to Azul when the time came; his only concern is how Epel and Jack were going to react to this and how quick things would head south. He got Azul’s attention with wanting to make an offer, now he just had to find a way to make such an offer stick and word it so it couldn’t be used against him – that was easier said than done. Adding inthe twins’ watchful gazes on everyone it was hard to whisper plans to the others, especially when they deem that if someone is lingering too long Floyd would step in and cause the anemones to yank on the student and pull them from Arisu and leave the boy looking stranded.

When it was time for the meeting, Jade walked up and escorted Arisu off the main floor and into the VIP Lounge; Floyd waved to the boy’s friends and grinned at them before stationing himself by the door to keep eavesdroppers away from interfering with the deals being made – client confidentiality after all. Arisu kept his head high as he was escorted to his seat across from Azul who had a little dinner set-up; the ‘charming’ smile he had didn’t really match the mood he was setting between them; the intent was clear in his eyes ‘Drop your guard around me’. That wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

“How nostalgic; lobster bisque, chocolate strawberry brownie, and a glass of water – Your first order when you came to our lounge after having a miserable day.” Azul held his chest. “It broke my heart seeing you in such a disarray that I absolutely had to help you.” He smiled ‘sweetly’ “And now here you are, looking for my assistance yet again.” His smile fell. “Of course, the last few times I was generous in not charging back then, that changes now; no more freebies, Mr. Shai, I have a business to run after all.”

“I wouldn’t ask for anything less.” Arisu took the glass and took a sip from it. “When we first met, you told me you could grant any wish from money to everlasting glory.” He watched as the grin return to his face. “Could you really grant my wish, no matter what it is?”

Azul chuckled softly. **“My dear, sweet, child; that’s what I do, it’s what I live for, to help unfortunate students like yourself.”** He folded his hands together. **“Poor souls with no-one else to turn to.”** He snapped his fingers and the twins moved a piece of the wall off to show a one-way glass that looked into the lounge; he was going to make a show out of this, Arisu had challenged him and now he was going to let him witness whatever he aimed to do to any unfortunate soul who had the misfortune of being near the scene at the wrong time. 

**“I admit that in the past I’ve been a nasty, they weren’t kidding when they called me well…a witch.”** He stood up and made his way over to Arisu’s seat. **“But you’ll find that now and days, I’ve mended all my ways; repented, seen the light and made a switch. True? Yes~.”** Standing beside Arisu’s side, he lifted his chin up so they were eye to eye. **“And I fortunately know a little magic, it’s a talent that I’ve always had possessed.”** He placed his gloved thumb over the boy’s lips. **“And dear ‘Alice’, please don’t laugh I’ve used it on behalf on the miserable, the lonely, and depressed.”** He pulled back and looked out the glass to where the anemone students were. **“Pathetic.”**

The urge to bit down on his thumb was tempting, it was so very tempting. Azul had caught the small glare that Arisu had and moved his hand from his face before guiding him over to the window and pointing to the students before them; **“Poor unfortunate souls in pain, in need.”** He pointed to one student. **“This one wanted perfect locks.”** He pointed to another. **“That one wants to get good grades, and do I help them?”** He snapped his fingers; the first student had luscious auburn hair that shone in the dim light of the lounge and the other student had a graduation cap on. **“Yes, indeed.”** He turned so he was leaning on the glass; **“Those poor unfortunate souls so sad, so true.”** He leaned back and laid his hand over his forehead, **“They come flocking to me crying ‘Spells, Azul please!’ and I help them?”** he straightened up and grinned at Arisu. **“Yes, I do.”**

Azul’s smile fell as he turned back to the glass with a heavy sigh **“Now it’s happened once or twice, someone couldn’t pay the price…and I’m afraid I had to rake them across the coals.”** He snapped his fingers and the two students from earlier were forcefully pulled away from their current positions by the anemones on their heads. He led Arisu back to the table and sat across from him, crossing one leg over the other. **“Yes, I’ve had the odd complaint, but on the whole, I’ve been a saint to those poor unfortunate souls!”** He grinned at him. “Come now, sit, enjoy your meal as we discuss what you could ever ask of me~”

Arisu took the soup and had a few spoonsful of it. “My request is that you release not only my friends; Ace, Deuce, and Grim, but also the other students you have enslaved under you.”

“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.” Azul shook his head. “Arisu, I want you to think about your request; you’re asking me to let go 225 students who signed a deal with me – _willingly_ might I add – they’re not doing anything that goes against labor standards and they knew what the terms were before signing.” He laced his fingers together and leaned forward a little bit. “How would you pay for such a high demand? Could you even pay it to begin with?”

A small nod. “I know the price of your high-paying wishes, you want me to steal some picture from a museum.” 

Azul hummed. “Well, now that you say it like this.” His eyes lit up. “Ah! I know just the perfect deal just for you, actually, I’m feeling generous in giving you two options to choose from; before that…Jade, Floyd, if you could kindly stream this deal to the unfortunate students – after all, a high-stakes deal should have witnesses to testify if…complications happen.”

The twins’ grins grew as they carried out the order; on the stage, a screen came down and a live feed from the lounge was played on a projector, the students paused for a brief moment and looked up at the screen to see the mortal sitting with Azul in the VIP lounge. Most were confused and worried, but when it came to Arisu’s trio of misfits, Jack, and Epel, they were staring with wide-eye horror; what the hell was Azul playing!?

Azul leaned back and smiled; “Now then, I would recommend you take the first offer – I’m going to give you three days to retrieve a picture from the Atlantica museum; now, I know you’re worried that I’m asking you to commit art theft and I can assure you that’s not the case at all.” He adjusted his glasses. “The photo is of Prince Rielle's visit to the museum about ten years ago, it’s located at the entrance so hardly anyone will notice it missing. Bring that picture to me by the sunset of the third day and I will set everyone free.”

Arisu paused and lowered the spoon into the bowl. “And if I don’t?” he asked. 

“Then you pay the price, Ramshackle’s looking better with the renovations our dear headmaster has been doing to the place and…well, a growing business _does_ need to expand after all.”

There was the sound of a commotion happening outside the VIP room, Arisu turned and looked through the glass to see Ace trying to storm over to where he was; he stared with his jaw hitting the floor as Floyd was quick to get in front of him, with a grin he kicked Ace to the ground and kept him pinned with his foot. Glaring, he returned to Azul’s condescending smirk, forcing himself to keep a level-head.

“What’s the second offer?” 

“Hmm.” The smirk widened. “You are asking me to let go 225 employees, something of equal value must be given in exchange if the little scavenger hunt isn’t up your alley; I’m not asking much, Arisu, what I want as equal payment is…you.”

He nearly dropped the bowl, Arisu hurried and placed it back on the table “W-What?!”

“You heard me, Mr. Shai; in exchange for 225 unfortunate souls, you are to surrender everything of you to me; you will belong to Octavinelle until graduation – body, mind, and soul. It’s fitting after all, your free will for theirs.”

From the one-way glass, Arisu was able to see that it was Jack’s turn to try and storm the VIP lounge – that went as well as Ace’s attempt, except it was Jade who got to him and pinned him to a table, making sure to slam the wolf’s head into the table. If this kept up, his friends were going to be the reason for a bar fight happening and that was probably going to spell trouble far worse than what they’re currently in.

“Prefect Ashengrotto, where am I to stay if I lose my dorm? Heck, how the hell am I supposed to swim down to the museum – in case you haven’t noticed, I don’t have gills to help breathe underwater!”

Azul laughed and stood up yet again, **“You have your brains.”** He tapped his forehead, before grabbing Arisu’s face into his hands again. **“Your handsome face.”** He took his arm into his **“And don’t underestimate the importance of.”** He pulled him close so he could dip him back, his hand moving down to hold Arisu’s bottom. **“Body language~ Ha!”**

**"You're definitely one for idle chatter"** Azul crooned his hand enjoying one more squeeze of Arisu's rear before moving to rest on his waist. His other hand still held one of Arisu's captive as he took a small step forward bumping his hip against Arisu's as he sang **"I think a boy who shuts up is a bore"** forcing the other boy to take a step back to keep his balance in the process. 

**"Yet down here it's much preferred for lads to say a lot of words. And after all dear,"** Azul said a playful glint in his eye as he continued his song **"Isn't that what idle prattle's for?"** Arisu desperately wanted to pull away from Azul's invasive touches and give him a punch right in that smug face of his for good measure. Alas he could not and forced his body to cooperative with Azul's nudges even unclenching his fist to set it on the other boy's shoulder as the words **"Come on, we're all that impressed with conversation"** slipped from Azul's lips.

 **"True gentlemen embrace it when they can"** Azul went on, guiding Arisu into a turn as he sang so the boy's back would remain to the one-way glass and the scene of his friends being beaten by Floyd and Jade. **"Cause I'll dote and swoon and fawn"** with this he dipped Arisu so suddenly the other male let out a cute gasp in surprise before adding **"On a boy who's not withdrawn"** the glint only glowing bright as he continued.

The urge to punch Azul was only building in Arisu's gut but he suppressed it, as he felt his cheeks turning pink with embarrassment at the girly noise he'd let out when dipped. **"It's he who lets his tongue loose gets my hand, come on you poor unfortunate soul"** Azul's singing was beginning to speed up with excitement. **"Go ahead, don't be droll"** he sang out pulling Arisu up from the dip so fast it was a miracle their faces didn’t touch. **"I'm a very busy person and I haven’t got all day; it won’t cost much"** he warbled sweetly. **"Just your soul"** he finished holding Arisu against his chest. **“You poor unfortunate soul, it’s sad but true.”**

Finally letting him go, Arisu stumbled backwards; just as he was about to make some retort or another two golden contracts were summoned and floated before him. Azul snapped his fingers and brought out a feathered pen; **“If you want to cross the bridge, my sweet, you’ve got to pay the toll; take a gulp, take a breath, go ahead and sign the scroll!”** He turned to the camera set up that was still sending this feed to the main floor of the lounge. **“Pay attention boys, I’ve got him now.”** He said with a wicked smirk, he turned back to Arisu and motioned to the contracts. **“The boss is on a roll!”**

 **“This poor unfortunate soul!”** Azul laughed as Arisu grabbed the pen and one of the contracts before signing his name. Once that was done, the contract glowed and returned to Azul’s hands, he looked it over and felt his eyes widen a bit. “My, my dear…you certainly are full of surprises tonight.” He cooed as he read the conditions with a devilish grin on his face.

_I hereby sign over my own freedom for the freedom of the 225 students of the failed contracts._   
_Arisu Shai._


	20. My Jolly Sailor Bold/It's a Deal/Rescue Mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So why another song chapter? I don't have much of a reason because I wanted Azul to go after Riddle
> 
> Alternatively: The boys are scheming bastards. Everyone. Almost everyone is planning something in the shadows.

Ace couldn’t sleep; how could he knowing that Arisu just offered himself up on a silver platter for him and the others!? Laying in bed, he just stared up at the ceiling and let out a sigh, since sleep wasn’t going to come to him, he was just going to get up and take a walk – damn the curfew, he deserved to have an evening walk after everything that had happened that day. He wasn’t the only one who was fretting either, Deuce was by the mirror and was about to go through – no doubt he was going to make his way over to Ramshackle to check on their friend; they could care less about the time of night it was, if Riddle could go over to Arisu in the dead of night, so could they. Ace said nothing as he just followed wordlessly to the old dorm, once there it wasn’t hard to go in as the headmaster hadn’t made any progress on repairing the old rusted lock on the door (heck, it was still sitting on the floor in the entrance hall despite Arisu’s constant claims of “I’ll pick the old lock up later”). The ghosts were around, but they didn’t do anything to stop them from going up to the boy’s room.

Both Ace and Deuce heaved a sigh of relief when they saw Arisu laying there peacefully and asleep while Grim was sleeping soundly in a nearby cat bed. There wasn’t anything odd about the scene before them, Arisu was sound asleep and wasn’t showing any signs of ‘waking’ up; they can at least relax knowing he wasn’t going to be sleepwalking again. Deuce walked up and carefully pulled the blanket up and over their friend’s shoulders before leaving with Ace. Sleep was going to come easily now that they know their strange friend was doing fine – at least fine enough to be able to sleep without any problems. 

“What brings you two out here this late?” A calm voice asked.

Both nearly jumped out of their skins, having to stop themselves from screaming and waking up Grim and Arisu. They had only just walked out of the threshold of Ramshackle and they were already discovered by a third-party; turning to the owner of the voice, they were able to settle their nerves after seeing a familiar horned figure with glowing green eyes. Malleus. It took them a while to remember that he enjoyed walking around the old dorm. 

Ace huffed and crossed his arms. “Do you have to lurk around here at three in the morning?”

“I could be asking you the same thing.” Malleus walked up to them and turned his gaze to the opened door, he frowned and closed it. “Honestly, it’s colder now, must you raise the heating bill of this place?”

“We were just making sure that Arisu was sleeping.” Deuce explained. “I know finals are over and he should be resting without stress, but we were worried about him.”

“How very noble of you, he’s definitely lucky to have friends like you.” Malleus looked to the dorm. “Safe to assume he is sleeping fine then?”

“Yeah.” Ace nodded. “And with that, we’ll be on our way.”

He waited until they took a few steps from the dorm before speaking. “Dead man tells no tales.” He watched as they stopped and looked at him confused. “That’s what pirates would always say, but the reality is that they do indeed tell tales if you’re skilled in the art of necromancy.” He narrowed his eyes at them. “You know that stress is the main suspect in Arisu’s sleepwalking, why did you sign the contract with Prefect Ashengrotto?” The two just flinched and looked away from him, Malleus just shook his head at their silence and made his way up to them before holding their shoulders tightly; “Go back to your dorm, I’m going to see if I can’t fix this mess of yours.”

Deuce looked up from him. “Don’t…we got him into this mess, we’re going to get him out of it.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“We’ll think of something.” Ace said.

Malleus nodded and walked them to the gate. “Your comradery is admirable, for your sakes I hope you’re successful.”

“You’re not upset with us?” Deuce asked.

Malleus narrowed his eyes again at them. “Oh, I am upset with you – you’re adding unnecessary stress to him, if he starts sleepwalking again, Riddle is going to murder you.” He gave a light shove forward. “And I’ll happily bring you back to life and murder you myself.” 

That scared the two into complete silence, both stared at Malleus with wide eyes before they were running from the dorm and were on their way back to Heartslabyul – they were now certain that they weren’t going to get any sleep after that threat from the Diasomnia dorm prefect. When morning came; they met with the usual group for breakfast, Arisu was running a little late, but he showed up on time as usual. He smiled at his friends and asked how they were doing, to which they assured him that they were fine, the others at the table were honed in on him; hardly any of their students knew what the word ‘subtlety’ was, it didn’t take long before everyone at their table to learn what had happened. Trey ended up having to escort Riddle away from Ace and Deuce before he turned into a scarlet red color that night, Ruggie had to use Laugh with Me to keep Leona and Jack from hunting the Octavinelle Trio (he was being selfish, he wanted to be the one to hunt the trio for them), Lilia was…oddly calm as well as Malleus upon hearing the news (somewhere in everyone, those two were plotting a silent murder – since Silver and Sebek were talking about swords during breakfast).

Everyone had their missions when it came to Arisu’s wellbeing in mind; the boy appeared to look fine - there wasn’t an anemone on his head, the only thing that was new were golden bands on his wrists. They were no doubt enchanted to keep him from straying too far from the trio when they were at the dorm, but aside from that, they couldn’t really tell what else there was about it – Lilia would have helped if he had more information, just because he was an ancient being, didn’t entirely mean he knew everything; there were some exceptions to the rule after all. Until they had something solid in mind to work with there wasn’t much anyone could do at the moment.

“That reminds me.” Ruggie looked over at Arisu. “So, in May we’re having another tournament – it’s actually bigger than the intra-dorm tournament!” his tail was swaying. “The Interschool Competition; our rival Royal Sword Academy will be over.”

“Oh?” Arisu paused from his pancakes. “That’ll be something, I wonder if Che’nya will be over.”

Riddle covered his mouth. “If you say his name, he’ll-”

“Show up?” Che’nya asked, seated between Arisu and Ace. “Good morning, Riddle~”

“You really need to stop coming here unauthorized.” Riddle sighed. “Che’nya, why are you here?”

Che’nya grinned at him, his pink ears twitched as he swiped a strawberry off his friend’s plate and took a bite. “Mmm~ You know why I’m here, My Queen, just here for Alice’s daily check-in!” he watched as all eyes were on him, some of the others were ready to vault across the table. “What? I can’t visit a dear friend of Riddle’s?” He waved his hand dismissively. “Well, in any case; Alice is sporting gold today, what’s the occasion?”

“It’s part of the contract I signed.” Arisu explained. “I’m working at Octavinelle for a while.”

“Oh my, I should have seen this coming with your soft-hearted nature.” Che’nya sighed. “It can’t be helped.” He took another strawberry and sighed. “Poor Alice, enslaved by the mafia, however will she ever get out?”

“Okay, first off; this was entirely of my own free-will.” He sighed. “I know signing away my freedom to them wasn’t the smartest of moves, but I didn’t want to take the chance of trying the alternative deal and lose Ramshackle.” He looked up at the cat-boy. “Second off; they’re being reasonable with demands and I’m only working at the lounge.”

“For now.” Che’nya grinned. “Arisu, your contract is the most exploitable one the prefect’s written up.” He put the fruit in the boy’s mouth. “Imagine what Mr. Ashengrotto could ask you to do for him? Would it really stop at just taking drink orders?” His grin grew as he held up his wrist to show the golden bangle. “What will you do then? You can’t deny his wishes, you’re incapable to deny his wishes.” He hummed and let him go before standing. “Well, I trust you’ll figure something out; you always do in the curious of situations, Alice~” he bowed before vanishing from the group.

Leona looked at Arisu; “What’s the terms of the deal? Word. For. Word.”

“In exchange for the freedom of the 225 students ‘employed’ by Azul Ashengrotto, I am to take their place and surrender up my freedom until graduation.” He folded his hands together. “My entire being for the others, to clarify.”

Leona held his forehead. “You have my condolences, prey.” He sighed and stood up. “Right, you children have fun; I have some work to do – Lilia, you’re with me.” 

Lilia stood up and took his empty plate, they wished the boys well and went on their way. Whatever the duo were up to was their business, one that the group silently agreed not to question about it. There was a brief silence looming over everyone before the agreement of them parting for the morning happened. Everyone went to hand their dishes over to the ghost on staff and went off to their classes; the first years agreed to watch over Arisu during class and the second years would look after Azul and the Leech twins. For the most part, class started out fine and the duo were able to relax and be able to take their notes with little to no problem

But that all changed the moment the group arrived in History class with Mr. Trein. The trio wouldn't be following the script they'd planned out. Arisu was in class for less than ten minutes before the classroom door was being kicked open by Floyd wearing his classic sharp-toothed grin as he strode over to Arisu's seat. Without a word he scooped the boy up before trotting over to a nearby window and kicking it open before jumping out with his prey in tow into the trees outside with a scream of surprise leaving the first year's mouth. 

Ace and Deuce could do little more than try to scrabble to their feet and hurry towards the window to see the pair disappear into the thick branches before professor Trein was scolding them to get back to their seats. Both first years stared at how calm their teacher was acting and reluctantly returned to their seats. They didn’t absorb anything that was said during the lesson, their minds filled with worry over Arisu's fate.

Floyd had let out a chuckle at the scream that that slipped from Arisu's lips and couldn't resist teasing him about it as he jumped again. This time the leap bringing them down onto the ground before the eel boy began walking across campus towards the Lounge where Azul and Jade were already waiting. Once inside, Floyd dropped Arisu onto the couch in Azul's office before sitting beside him.

"Why aren’t you three in class?" Arisu said irritably and got a patronizing laugh from Azul in answer. 

"Oh, when I said I have a contract on almost everyone in this school I meant it. Even our dear teachers are not safe from my deal making. And before you fuss, I said I'd let the students who made contracts with me go, you never asked for any of the teachers to be freed" Azul said once he had finished laughing.

Arisu wanted so badly to sulk like a child and give Azul and the twins some trouble. Alas the contract prevented him from such liberties, and he wanted to try and see if there were any weaknesses he could play on from the trio. He straightened up and crossed his arms, keeping a calm and neutral expression on his face before speaking to them. “Alright, so whatever could be so important that you had to kidnap me from class?”

“Ah right.” Azul cleared his throat. “I’m working on a personal project and I’m requesting that you go through with this.” He snapped his fingers. “First, I need a sample of your blood.” He said as Jade came up with a sterile kit.

“You need what?!” Arisu bolted out of his seat. “What the hell are you working on that needs my blood!”

“I’m afraid that detail remains confidential.” He shrugged. “Now hold still, this will only take a second.”

“No.” he moved away from Jade. “No way in hell am I going to comply to that order.” He turned and started to leave.

Azul tutted at the sight before slamming his cane down; a set of glowing chains appeared and attached onto the gold bangles around Arisu’s wrists, with a smirk he pulled at the chains and dragged the bound boy back to him where he pulled him upright and held him in place for Jade to approach. “The more you struggle, the longer this will take and the longer this takes, the more it’s going to hurt.” 

“Let me go, Azul!” Arisu cried, he was kicking and struggling in the prefect’s grasps. “I am not giving you my blood for whatever shady spell you’re concocting!”

“Floyd, help hold him down!” 

“Okay~” Floyd came over and straddled on Arisu’s legs, he grabbed one arm and pulled on it. “It’s okay Damselfish, Jade will be quick.”

Despite the extra weight on him, Arisu still continued to struggle and scream at them to let him go and that he didn’t want to go through with this – using blood in any kind of magic tend to have negative effects and he didn’t want to deal with anything worse than the curse he was born with. His screams went unheard and only went into a wordless cry of pain as Jade stuck the needle into his exposed arm and drew what he needed before backing away with a simple ‘there, that wasn’t so hard was it’ and gave a quick kiss to his arm. Arisu didn’t even know he'd started crying until Floyd's tongue was pressed against his cheek licking up the tears that had begun to run down his face. Arisu felt to worn out to protest this new invasion of privacy, perhaps it was from blood loss and perhaps it was the contract making him weak.

Azul shooed Floyd away from him and helped Arisu up, he snapped his fingers which caused the chains to vanish from sight. He kissed his head and smiled down at him before telling him to return to his dorm to rest up and that he would have the twins collect him when his shift at the lounge started. Arisu didn’t need to be told twice, he rushed out of the lounge without a second to lose while Azul just took the small vile from Jade and nodded. He told them to do whatever as he had some work to carry out. The twins just grinned and went off to see who they could bother for the day; they weren’t too happy that they had to play the waiting game, but Azul was one of the best in the field in alchemy – they’ll get that curse cleared up in no time and when they do…

*****

With class finally over, Ace, Grim, and Deuce were making their way to the lounge; they ran the idea through with not only Riddle, but with the rest of their strange motley crew, they were going to beat Azul at his own game – every high stake deal was met with someone having to try and steal a picture from the Atlantica museum, so that’s what they were going to do. They were teaming up with Jack and Epel to better their chances of success when the contract was signed. Granted, Riddle wasn’t too thrilled with the idea, but even he had to admit that playing Azul’s game was the only way to get Arisu back to them without the strings attached. When they arrived at the lounge, the twins informed them that Azul wasn’t in today and that Arisu wouldn’t be arriving until later that night, the group were free to stay and wait for them but there wasn’t a set time for when the Octavinelle Prefect would be back. They would be waiting for quite some time.

While the first-years were at the lounge killing time until Azul came in, Riddle was with Trey, Rook, and Cater in tracking him down; they found him in the music room with Mr. Trein, performing his piece for that romance song assignment – again, the pieces themselves were due on Valentine’s Day, but a lot of students just wanted to get it done and over with so they weren’t stressing about it later – the song piece Azul had chosen was of no surprise, what was a surprise however was that he added a little charm into the song to make the listeners see what he wanted them to see while performing.

 **“Upon one summer’s morning, I carefully did stray down by the walls of Wapping where I met a sailor gay; conversing with a young lad, who seemed to be in pain saying ‘Alice, when you go, I fear you’ll ne’er return again.”** Azul smirked to the door where the group was as he performed the first verse; the charm took place and Riddle was able to see himself beside Arisu, he was holding onto the boy’s hands tightly in a silent plead not to leave onto the nearby ship. Riddle had a light blush, one look to his friends and they were in the same setting.

 **“His hair it hangs in ringlets, his eyes as bright as gold, my happiness attend him wherever he may go.”** Azul held his chest. **“From Tower Hill to Blackwall I’ll wander, weep, and moan all for my jolly sailor until he sails home.”** It took a lot to not chuckle in the middle of his performance; Rook was dressed in all black and had a veil attached to that hat of his, the hunter wandered from town to town and gazing out to sea hoping for Arisu’s ship to return to port. Seeing the hunter dab at his eyes fueled Azul’s charm as he continued to perform for the impromptu audience.

 **“My name it is Azul, a merchant’s son and fair; and I have left my parents and three thousand gold a year.”** He extended his arms out in a welcoming gesture. **“Come all you pretty fair lads, whoever you may be, who love a jolly sailor that ploughs the raging seas.”** He returned a hand to his heart. **“While up aloft in storm, from me his absence mourns and firmly pray arrive the day he’s never more to roam.”** He looked dead into the eyes of the ‘guests.’ **“My heart is pierced by Cupid; I disdain all glittering gold; there is nothing that can console me but my jolly sailor bold.”** He made sure that Trey and Cater were seeing themselves watching a dreadful storm kick up; ships that would be caught in that would be destroyed in a heartbeat. Both were staring with pain in their eyes and silently wept and prayed that Arisu would make it out of there alive. But the scene changed and all four boys were watching as they were underwater, Arisu was out cold and laying in Azul’s arms – they couldn’t see much of Azul’s mer form, but they could see him holding Arisu close and giving a kiss of life to him and the boy waking up to hold onto him.

With the song over and getting a passing mark, Azul made his way over to the four with a wicked smirk. “Did you enjoy the show? I’ll be honest, this assignment was rather difficult.”

Riddle narrowed his eyes at him, he couldn’t afford to lose his temper around him now. “Quite the performance, I never took you for a fan of Strangers Tides.” He moved to the hall with him. “We wish to discuss business with you.”

“Is that right?” Azul smirked at him. “And what business would that be, Prefect Rosehearts?”

“Business about Arisu’s well-being, he is an honorary Heartslabyul student, therefore, it is my duty as Prefect to ensure his good health.”

Azul just hummed. “I suppose so, what about him do you wish to know about?”

Cater jumped in and crossed his arms; “We know you purposely made the contract exploitable to do whatever you want to him, what are you hoping to get out of it other than his connections?”

“Who said I wanted those connections?” Azul’s smirk grew. “Is that what you think this is all about? I won’t lie, it is a nice added bonus, but no…Arisu fascinates me; a human with hardly an affinity in magic is brought to our world by the Ebony Carriage, manages to bring the reclusive dorm head out of his lair, faced against you when you overblotted and lived to tell the tale and warmed your cold heart to boot why wouldn’t I be interested in him?” He approached them again. “His value is worth more than you could ever imagine, I have my doubts you four could appreciate him like I do.”

“Your wrong.” Trey snapped. “We’ve been by his side since that day and it’s never going to change; Arisu is our friend and we’re willing to help him in any way we can.”

“Such as stealing that picture from the Atlatnica Museum for you.” Rook placed a hand on his hip. “The other half of our group were hoping to catch you at the lounge for this, but I suppose as long as the contract is signed it doesn’t matter who goes to collect it now does it?”

Azul couldn’t stop himself from staring at the group in surprise. “My, I would expect this from Mr. Trappola and Mr. Spades, but from the esteemed Rook Hunt and Riddle Rosehearts?” he chuckled. “Very well, meet me at the lounge tonight at six; we’ll discuss the details of the deal there.” He turned and walked off. “Right now, I have to see if my personal project is ready.”

The wait was the most excruciating moment of their lives. Once at Monstro Lounge, the group was led to the VIP lounge where Azul was seated at the desk, Arisu was by his side – upon seeing his friends, he left Azul’s side and rushed over to them; he didn’t get far before the chains reappeared and Azul harshly tugged him back to his side where the blond landed on his ass, wincing in pain at the impact. Ace and Deuce immediately went to charge at the Octavinelle prefect but were held back by Jack and Trey; Grim was held back by the ribbon and was trying to fight free from Cater’s grasp, Azul just chuckled darkly at the display before him.

“Isn’t that adorable, Arisu, they’re willing to try and fight for you.” Azul smiled. “But no, instead this group had something else in mind that has more class than a fist fight; care to repeat what you’re offering, Prefect Rosehearts?”

Riddle nodded and crossed his legs. “We wish to make a deal with you, we’ll get you the picture for Arisu’s freedom.”

“Admirable, but what do we get out of the deal should you fail?” Azul’s grin widened some. “What is your offer?”

“Look around you.” Riddle motioned to the group behind him. “You have a grab basket of special skills; Ace’s wind power, Deuce’s cauldrons, Rook’s hunting skills, my own unique magic, to name a few.” Riddle folded his hands together. “Should we fail to bring you the picture in the timeframe of three days, you can have any and all of our abilities if you wish it.”

“My, my, my such an offer coming from you.” Azul chuckled. “But how will I know you’ll keep your word? Afraid for something like this collateral must be paid.”

Riddle closed his eyes and took a deep breath “Then I’ll give you ‘Off with your Head’ as our collateral.” 

“What the- Prefect, don’t.” Ace begged. “If anything, Deuce, Grim, and I should give our powers up, we’re the ones who got Arisu into this mess in the first place.”

“That won’t work.” Epel spoke up. “For a deal like this Azul’s not going to take anything less, we’re betting on Arisu’s freedom here which means collateral has to be of equal value until we get the picture.” Ace just growled and let his shoulders drop.

Azul chuckled and took out a golden contract before sliding it over to Riddle; “You know what to do, Mr. Rosehearts.”

Riddle took the feathered pen and signed on the line, the moment the contract glowed; he was coated in a light golden glow as well before Azul snatched the contract up “ **{It’s a Deal}** A pleasure doing business with you.” He took out a crate of potions for the group. “Here, some breathing potions to help on your trip; remember, you have until the sun sets on the third day to bring that picture of Prince Riel to me or else Arisu and your powers are mine for good.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can see pitchforks coming this way, BYE! *runs from the readers*

_First, he was on a raft, now he was deep in the ocean blue; how the hell was he still breathing? No, if Arisu tried asking that he wouldn’t enjoy the answer given to him. He swam around for a while and smiling at the fishes that would come by, but the further he went the less there were but instead a mermaid following a set of eels into a dark cave. He followed them into the cave where the mermaid was before the sea witch herself; memories flooded back to him, he was watching the deal between Ursula and Princess Ariel!_

_“I’ll make you a potion that can turn you into a human for three whole days; and the Prince absolutely has to fall in love with you.” Ursula explained. “As for the payment, it’s very simple, what I want from you is your voice.”_

_No. No, it was Ariel’s voice that brought the prince back to consciousness! If she loses her voice she’ll be at a disadvantage, “Ariel no!” he cried, swimming up to her. He was still a phantom and an onlooker of the past. He was there forced to watch helplessly as she signed her voice away to the sea witch. Was this how his friends felt when he signed his own freedom away for them?_

“Why didn’t anyone tell us that Damselfish sleepwalks!” Floyd complained.

“I’ve heard that Arisu struggled with sleeping, but I never imagined it would escalate to this.” Azul mused. “I suppose that would have to be another thing to worry about.

Arisu groaned as he sat up in bed, he looked around and saw he was in the Octavinelle’s guest room; memories of last night came rushing through to him. Sometime after the deal was sealed, Arisu was given some time to wish his friends good luck before they had to part for the evening and instead of letting him return back to Ramshackle, Azul forced him to stay the night at the Octavinelle dorm – given that he was the prize to be won, it was best if he had him kept under lock and key for the duration of the three-day trial of retrieving the photograph of Prince Riel’s visit to the Atlantica Museum. The room was nice, and Arisu would give it that, what he was unaware of was the fact that he had been sleepwalking again – the dreams started up again and since it was already the beginning of the first day and already Arisu was worried for his friends already, from what he knew about this condition of the deal no one had ever succeeded and everyone who tried would fail and end up losing their freedom to Azul for however long he deemed necessary.

Getting up, he got dressed and followed Azul and Floyd to the lounge; his mind continued to drift to his friends even after he was starting his shift at the Monstro Lounge and serving up drinks for the guests that there were times he would end up delivering the wrong order to a customer; everyone knew the situation, it wasn’t that big of a secret, hardly anyone could fault him for it. Azul had vanished off to the VIP lounge and the twins had headed off to who knows where and seeing as he was one of very few workers for the time being it was going to be a very busy day for him. It was high noon when Azul had called him into the VIP lounge, and Arisu tried his best to keep a neutral expression as Azul played with the two contracts lazily; he set the contracts down and held his hand out in a silent invitation to approach, to which the blond complied, once close enough Azul had pulled him close and made the blond sit on his lap; with his size, it was easy to rest his chin on his golden locks. 

“We have some things to discuss.” Azul finally said. “Your performance on the floor today was pretty abysmal to say the least, I know you’re worried about your friends, but they’re of no concern to you now.” He played with his hair. “But I can’t really have you slack off while you’re with us, so…” He smirked and sat upright. “Therefor, you’re going to be with me working as a taste tester for any and new recipes for our little lounge.” 

Arisu looked up at him; “Why do I have a feeling there’s a catch to this request?”

Azul smiled down at him and tapped his nose. “Clever boy, you’re learning.” He chuckled. “I’m going to be the one feeding the new dishes to you.”

“And what is stopping from me from getting out of this chair and bolting?”

“Do you really want to test my patience, Arisu? I really don’t want to have to keep pulling you back here with the chains, it gets tiresome after a while.” He narrowed his eyes at the boy. “Believe me, there are worse punishments I could inflict on you for disobeying me.” He moved his hand down and gave a harsh squeeze on his legs. “I could always remove these; Sam probably has a nice bone saw I could use to get the job done.” He watched as Arisu stared at him with wide eyes, paling in horror at the implication of the threat as he trembled in the prefect’s arms. 

“Please don’t!” Arisu begged. “I’ll…I’ll let you feed the new dishes to me.” The narrowed eye look didn’t change. “I promise I’ll behave from here on out.” Azul was pleased with that answer.

The room was incredibly tensed as they had lunch together, even after trying various new dishes Azul would still hold him close. It was this action that made Arisu put the pieces together; he saw a familiar blank stain on the prefect’s pen and felt his heart sank. This explained the sudden threat, but at the same time it was worrying on so many levels. He tried to bring attention to it, all that eared was another warning squeeze to his legs before he fell silent and just stayed in his arms until he was finally let go after work had ended for the time being. 

Leaving the lounge and the dorm, Arisu stepped through the mirror and yawned, it was already sunset - time did indeed fly, and after being busy for so long in keeping Azul in a good mood while working at the lounge serving drinks, he wasn’t surprised that to him it felt like it should have still been morning. He shook his head and went to the mirror chamber to meet up with his friends; hopefully they were able to get it on the first day.

They didn’t. Standing before Arisu were four of his tired friends; Epel, Rook, Cater, and Grim were wet and emptyhanded. Cater had forced on a smile and tried to lighten the mood by showing pictures of Coral Sea and the museum to him, it did help and made the boy smile a little but, the first day was a flop and there were two more days of the deal left and if they weren’t successful…they didn’t really want to think about it. Quietly, they regrouped with the others at Savanaclaw – it was agreed that would be their base of operations for the duration period to plan and figure something out, even if Leona was against it but…as long as they stayed in the lounge, he could care less what they were doing. Leona was actually more annoyed that the group decided to dive head first into Coral Sea and wasted precious time there – still, he had to admire their tenacity and their ambition for going with a bold move first instead of planning out alternative moves. He shrugged and went back to exchanging notes with Lilia, they were listening in on the group while working on dispelling a curse.

Ruggie handed everyone a can of soda, “So…going to Coral Sea was a stupid move, I mean…come on, you had to have figured this wasn’t going to be a simple walk in and walk out type of scenario.” 

“How were we supposed to know they were mermaids!” Epel demanded.

“Uh, you could have asked.” Leona said simply. “I would have told you if you’d just ask.”

Ruggie started laughing. “You have to be extra careful before making a move, you know~” he sat beside them. “You know, the Leech Brothers are pretty famous for being Azul’s lackeys and for being a hinderance to people who made deals with them…’course, there’s also a rumor that says they’ll do whatever they can so you don’t fulfill the conditions of the contract – guess it’s true considering they’re honed in on Alice and…well this part is also a rumor, but supposedly Floyd has a thing for Riddle…well in terms of lust I mean.”

Riddle shuddered. “Don’t ever say that again.”

“Whatever you say.” Ruggie shrugged. “But…seriously, they’re going to do whatever they can to keep Arisu in their chains.”

“Ahh!!! What are we going to do! Those damn cheaters are going to keep Arisu forever and we’re going to lose him!”

Arisu cleared his throat. “Will you stop acting like I’m going to die, Grim? You’re worse than Hades when it comes to being dramatic.” He shook his head. “Anyway…we better do something tomorrow at least, because we have bigger things to worry about.”

“What do you mean?” Ace asked.

“Earlier today, Azul decided to have me in his company…I was close enough to see his pen and there was a black stain on it.”

The room went dead quiet, eyes were widened in surprise and horror. Screw the museum plot, they had to figure out how to keep Azul from going insane; so far all they knew was that a magician had to take care of their body, and Azul was the healthiest so far – at least to their knowledge. 

“…The confiscated magic is kept inside the contract, and Azul can use it anytime.” Leona spoke up. “If he’s using too much high-caliber magic that’s causing the stain…”

“But the contract’s unbreakable.” Grim whined. 

“Idiot, all magic has a weakness.” Leona huffed. “Riddle’s magic isn’t invincible; remember how easily I destroyed that collar?” he crossed his arms. “Fire is weak to water, water is weak to lightning, light magic is weak to dark magic…” he made a motion with his hands. “So…what would a contract’s weakness be?”

“A high paying lawyer?” Epel muttered.

Leona pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, I am not in the mood to deal with this; you’ve exceeded your welcome here, get the fuck out of my dorm.”

Everyone reluctantly left the Savanaclaw dorm, even though it was for another reason it was agreed that the group should get what rest they could get before they tried their new plan tomorrow. Leona watched them leave and turned back to Lilia who was still sitting across from him with a huge grin on his face.

“I heard you, Leona.” Lilia said before the lion could talk. “I’ve been going over our notes over Sunflower’s curse, we’re missing something important…”

“An Ancient Faerie being stuck on dispelling a curse; you don’t hear that often.” He looked over a page and sighed. “Okay, we’ve tried looking at the practice itself…didn’t work, I even had to ask my brother for favors to get information from the Three Heads, that still left us at a dead end since the families destroyed that alchemy book years and years ago.”

Lilia played with a pen and hummed. “Blood curses aren’t easy to break, I’m still trying to heal Silver of his.”

“What?” Leona looked up at Lilia. “How long ago was this?”

“Hmm…” Lilia thought for a bit. “Let’s see his mother was born in 1528, got married at sixteen like every young woman at that spell, had Silver in 1544.” He nodded. “I had to beside both of them until Silver was old enough to take to the fold.”

“You’ve had that boy since the 15th century!?”

“I’m sorry, did I stutter, Kingscholar?” Lilia looked up at him. “And for your information, this curse is different than the one Sunflower’s going through; it’s from our home the Land of Thorns, which makes it easier to work with.”

Leona shook his head. “Alright…so, what the hell do we need to get this curse? Because all I can think of is…wait…I might not be the best in alchemy, but is it possible to go straight for the blood itself?”

Lilia hummed and spun the pen around. “Never thought of it that way…it might be crazy enough to work; of course, keep it mind that this won’t cure the curse completely.”

“It’s a risk we have to take, you saw what I was close to doing to that kid when I overblotted…he doesn’t need to go through that shit again.” 

“You’re starting to search more like a king now.” Lilia smiled. “You’re thinking about thy subjects for once.”

“Don’t get used to it, it’s just a favor I owe him.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Leona.”

*****

The second day was here and the clock was ticking; Arisu was with Jade and Floyd in the mirror chamber talking about yesterday and what he saw on Azul’s pen, the two were concerned but had assured him that they would look into the matter when they came back from their mission and told Arisu to return to Azul’s side. They left before he could get a word out; operation ‘stall the twins for the museum group’ was a flop. The only thing he could think of as of now was to keep Azul from going into the Monstro Lounge during lunch while Riddle’s group went to hunt down the contract. Arriving at the cafeteria, Arisu sat before Azul and leaned forward so they would be eye to eye; Azul smirked at him and just took a drink of water, he could see it in those beautiful honey eyes – Arisu had a lot to say but no idea where to start; out of the corner of his eyes he was able to see Riddle lead Ace, Deuce, Trey, and Jack out of the room. Those four were up to something and without the twins he would have to handle this alone.

Standing up he put his tray away and led Arisu off; making sure to follow the group at a distance away from them. “What could be troubling you, dear Alice?” he asked.

“Azul, I saw the ink stain on your pen.” Arisu said bluntly.

“A small stain, nothing you need to worry your little head about.” He patted his head. “I’m keeping a proper sleep schedule, a healthy diet, and watching my magic usage, give it another day or so and it’ll fade on its own in no time.”

“That may be true, but…” his eyes widened a little. “Azul, please tell me you don’t still have everyone’s powers!”

Azul chuckled. “I believe your contract states that you would trade up your freedom for the freedom of other students; like with the teachers, there’s absolutely nothing in that contract that says I have to return everyone’s powers and abilities.” He smirked at him. “Really now, you should know better when you’re making deals that you have to be specific in your terms.” 

This went on until they were back at the dorm and Azul snapped his fingers to change from school uniform to his dorm attire – mafia attire and all. He grabbed his cane and made his way to the lounge with Arisu trailing behind him. The rest of their walk went in silence, pass the doors of the lounge and into the VIP room where the prefect went up to the safe and took out the contracts; he smirked and went through them before the boy.

“Wind magic – courtesy of Ace; Summoning – Deuce; Fire breath – Grim; Off with your Head – Riddle, this will soon be mine for good along with you.” He poked Arisu’s nose. “And of course, my personal favorite; your entire being.” He set that one on the table and set the rest back into the safe, locking it. Turning back to him, he pulled Arisu close to him and lifted his chin up, “I could do whatever I wish to you and you’ll be unable to stop me.” He pulled back and pushed his frames up. “Starting now, we have to cover the twins’ shift here, I hope that won’t be a problem Alice.” 

There wasn’t much to say, Arisu just narrowed his eyes and followed Azul out of the VIP room. They didn’t get far, Azul held him close as they stood outside the door; in a few minutes they heard screaming from inside, Azul started to laugh as he returned with Arisu, he chuckled at the sight before him; everyone was shuddering and recovering from being hit by lightning. 

“My, my, you’re shaking as if you got hit by lightning, how unsightly.” He chuckled

Riddle glared at him; Jack was the first to talk. “You knew we were here?”

“Aside from your fluffy tail from under the table, you weren’t subtle in the slightest.” Azul smirked. “Riddle leaving with you and the two troublemakers…that’s out of character for him.” He picked up the contract and tutted at them. “Trying to steal this, how low could you get Prefect Rosehearts? Well, I hate to tell you but it sends out electric shocks if someone other than me touches it, how unfortunate.” He looked over at Arisu. “And you had this darling boy try to distract me too, have him go against his master.”

Arisu backed up and tried to get to his friends, but Azul brought forth the chains again and pulled him back. “I suppose, I’ve been lenient on how much freedom I’ve been giving you, Alice.” He took out a bottle from his pocket and smirked. “Suppose we better fix that.”

“Whatever it is you’re planning.” Deuce was ready to punch him.

“I’m sorry, but who’s Arisu’s master here?” Azul smirked. “I believe he signed himself to me and not you, interfering from you will just make this worse.”

Riddle held Deuce’s shoulder. “Stand down…” he said in a reluctant tone.

Azul turned back to Arisu and held the vial out. “You know what to do, drink up.”

“No…I don’t trust the contents.”

“There’s no room for arguing, drink it willingly or I force it down your throat.”

Arisu shook his head and kept his mouth closed. With a sigh, Azul grabbed his chin and forced him to open his mouth as he took the cork off the bottle with his teeth and dropping it to the side. As he was about to pour the contents inside the blonde’s mouth, he paused as a better idea formed into his mind; using his tongue to keep the potion from going down his own mouth, he drank the potion and pressed his lips to Arisu’s. Stubbornly, Arisu tried to keep his mouth shut but Azul's free arm wrapping around his waist and pulling him roughly against the other male's chest knocked the air out of him. For the briefest of moments his lips parted, unfortunately that was more than enough time for the potion to pass from Azul's mouth to his. 

Arisu recoiled at the taste of the potion, not because it tasted disgusting like he had expected it to but, because it instead tasted like lemonade – his favorite. He didn’t have much time to think about how nice it felt on his tongue before he felt his knees buckling under him. Arisu's legs felt all weird and tingly like they'd fallen asleep.

"What was that?" Arisu said panic bubbling in his stomach as he frantically flailed about in Azul's grip much like a fish that had been caught on a hook. 

"Calm down nothing in that bottle is going to hurt you" Azul said adjusting his grip on the blonde. "It's just a little brew I made to keep you from trying to run away from me" he added moving his hand down from Arisu's face to his lower half which was already covered in a thin coat of blue and yellow scales that grew in number with each passing moment.

Staring in horror, Arisu started to thrash in his arms; he knew nothing he did would stop whatever it was that was happening, but the small voice in his brain was telling him to get away and to escape. "What was that?" Arisu cried again despite already having a horrible inkling of what was happening. 

Azul chuckled at the sight and tightened his hold on him. "Didn’t you ever hear the story of the little merprincess and the potion she took to gain legs? Well I created a similar brew just for you. Only instead of bestowing a pair of boring legs, you're getting a beautiful tail instead" Azul kept his grip on him, a grin formed on his face as the boy’s legs joined together and the scales continued to coat over them, not only that but seeing the Heartslabyul trio and the Savanaclaw’s wolf were watching helplessly as their friend slowly lost his legs and flailing helplessly in the Octavinelle prefect’s arms.

To add onto the change, Arisu suddenly felt lighthead and dizzy like he couldn’t breathe...Wait he didn’t have lungs anymore thanks to the potion he'd been forced to consume! Weakly he gripped at Azul's jacket and tried to beg him to do something even though he could not speak. The second-year only nodded at him with a grin and kissed his head before carrying him to the main floor as he strode down the longue hallway.

"If you don’t want your friend to die of asphyxiation I'd advise not getting in my way" Azul said as Jack tried to get up and block his path. 

Jack growled but remained where he was, watching as Azul strolled over to the tank in the lounge; it was more than just show - the twins tended to play around in there and freak out any newcomers that were visiting their little establishment for the first time. There were various ways to get in, and Azul went with the easiest way; he went up to the diving platform that was settled above it and gently lowered Arisu into the water below.

Once submerged, Arisu gasped and started to flail again; he couldn’t swim in his new tail, it was near impossible to. He was able to breathe, but mobility was limited, he just struggled and thrashed as he sank to the bottom of the tank where he was laying helplessly before everyone on the other side. Ace was the first to rush up and rest his hand on the glass, prompting the mer to do the same. Both held an expression of pain in their eyes; Ace was kicking himself for putting Arisu in this situation, if he hadn’t signed the deal for good grades…Arisu wouldn’t be in this tank and at the mercy of Octavinelle. Deuce came up next and was the same as Ace, his blue eyes showed pain but also fury – he was going to kick Azul’s ass one way or another after this. Trey and Jack had to hold Riddle away from Azul as he returned to surface level with a smirk.

“Now then…if you’re done wasting time, the clock is still ticking after all. You’re going to have to try harder than that in our deal, Prefect Rosehearts.”


	22. Down Once More/No One Would Listen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looking back; Azul had more musical numbers than others...I wonder why that is
> 
> Okay so before we begin, I'd like to say some things: 1. To my Friends and Readers; you guys are amazing and are the reason I keep going. I am enjoying that I made Arisu likeable enough to spark a "Let's Hunt Azul" Campaign and more. However, I am a just panda, and because of this I want to let everyone know this now: I give FULL PERMISSION to do oneshots or so of Arisu. I mean it, if you want to write a coffee shop au where Arisu and Trey meet and hook up, by all means go ahead: Just so long as you tag it properly and hit in the comments saying 'Hey Felicia, I wrote a thing about Arisu' so I can read it. [And yes, that goes double for if you want to do bad endings where it ends in smut].
> 
> Follow up, number 2: Please don't attack people. I respect that one may see something and think one thing but...jumping to conclusions is not the way to go; please read the tags and notes, I don't want anyone getting upset or hurt because they were careless in accusations. It's one thing if something wasn't tagged or written the author's notes correctly and you're just pointing it out, it's another when you blatantly accuse them of stealing when that's not the case. 
> 
> With all said and done; here's the show you've been waiting for:
> 
> Songs: Down Once More & No One Would LIsten - Phantom of the Opera

Why was he here again? Arisu wasn’t at Ramshackle anymore and Grim was staying in the A-Deuce combo room so there was really no need to be here. Perhaps he figured that the events that had happened was nothing more than a bad dream, even though he knew deep inside that it wasn’t the case; Arisu had been forced to trade his legs for a tail and remain helpless at Azul’s mercy. There was still the unlikely glimmer of hope he would see the boy in bed sleeping soundly and nestled deep into the covers, and taking a breath of air, Riddle opened the door to the main hall of the old dorm.

Quiet. No surprise, it was midnight? When was the last time he ever came to this dorm this late at night? Riddle had a small pained smile on his face as he remembered when he would come here because of the nightmares those months ago; in some weird way, he actually missed their evening conversation over hot tea, cider, or whatever Arisu had on hand to heat up. Already his chest was clenching and he felt his eyes water, he immediately wiped them dry – he couldn’t afford to lose his composure now…not until he saw the boy’s bedroom. Any ghost he saw lingering, he made sure to greet them as he made his way up the stairs and down the halls before he came to Arisu’s room. With a shaky hand, he reached out and opened it; his heart broke when he saw it was completely empty.

He wasn’t disappointed, he knew this would be the case. Shaking his head, he decided to look around; among Arisu’s belongings, Riddle was certain that he could find something that belonged to the previous residents of the dorm so many years ago, an old spell book perhaps? Surely students of the past had something that could help them out today. Nothing. He turned out the desk, old bookcase, everything he could get his hand on before he finally collapsed on the bed with a huff. Turning to the past was of no use and it was pissing him off. Grabbing Arisu’s pillow, he held it close and took in the blonde’s scent to help him sleep that night.

“I was wondering whom had the gall to enter the old dorm while the prefect was out.” A cold voice spoke out. “Imagine mine surprise when I’ve learned it was Night Raven’s own Riddle Rosehearts creeping around at night.”

Riddle sat up and looked over at the figure in the doorway; “Prefect Draconia.” He greeted. “Stalking around abandoned places again?”

He just hummed and looked around the messy room. “Fighting off an intruder, were we?” he looked back to Riddle. “Or is it perhaps you who is the intruder of the night?”

“I don’t have to explain my actions to you.” Riddle snapped. “And for someone who’s supposedly betrothed to Arisu, you certainly haven’t been of much help given the circumstances.”

“Azul would eventually have to turn Arisu over to me.” Malleus looked at his nails. “Unless he wishes to have the wrath of the Dark Faerie Court rein down upon him, it would be in his best interest to not keep him in his tentacles for long.” He returned his gaze and narrowed his eyes. “The same is said to you as well, Prefect Rosehearts.”

“An arranged betrothal is often agreed upon by both families; last I checked, Arisu’s family have never agreed to giving his hand to you.” Riddle crossed his arms. “Now then, if we’re done here…”

“Honestly, I don’t see why you’re upset with the current situation; Arisu being in a mermaid state is quite wonderful.” Malleus took a step closer to him. “He’s completely vulnerable and dependent on others now.” He held Riddle’s chin and leaned close. “Completely at the mercy of others, I couldn’t begin to imagine such a better fate; a beautiful bride to relax and take it easy while the caring husband keeps him comfortable and all he has to do is be compliant with whatever desires the husband has in mind.”

Riddle just stared at him, jaw to the floor. He was not hearing this; he was _not agreeing_ with this – Arisu wasn’t some pet to be kept away like that! He was his own person and…okay, having him dependent on him was a good trade-off, Riddle could keep him safe and – no! No, no, he was not going down that route! Pulling away from Malleus he huffed and turned away.

“Unlike some, I’d much prefer it if he could walk on his own.” He snapped. “Now for real, if we’re done here, I have a long day tomorrow and-”

“Did you know that gargoyles watch over the dorm?” He walked over to the window and opened it before sitting on the sill and looked up slightly. “You can see one of them from here if you look close enough.”

“What are you going on about now?” Riddle demanded

“Gargoyles look as if they’re monstrous beings made of stone at first glance, however, they’re actually a rain gutter made to protect the buildings from torrential rain. Curious, they’re scary at first glance, but they are very important beings that help keep the house standing.” He turned and saw the redhead stare at him. “There are times when what we see is the opposite of what they really are.” He stood up and went to the door. “I don’t have any qualms about you staying in Arisu’s room, if anything, I believe he trusts you enough to spend the night here in light of everything that’s been happening. Have a good night, Prefect Rosehearts.”

The day Malleus would ever stop being cryptic is the day that hell itself would freeze over. Riddle decided to let the topic go and lay back down on the bed, he closed his eyes and thought about the day; there had to be something he could have done to prevent Arisu from being in a tank for who knows how long. The plan started out fine enough; Arisu kept Azul’s attention on him, they were about to have Deuce break into a safe – one that didn’t make sense if the contracts could only be handled by Azul. Wait…that didn’t make sense either. The contracts could only be handled by one person else they get shocked, there would be no need for a safe. But the shock they’ve received was a basic security spell designed to stun the thief for a period of time until someone came and neutralize the actual threat.

The contracts weren’t invincible and Azul was bluffing to discourage them from trying that again, the safe was indeed needed for the contracts else people would have their powers back and Arisu would have his freedom back as well. He would have to get everyone to meet at Savanaclaw to work out their plan for tomorrow – er, today. For now; Riddle just closed his eyes and let sleep take over him, he would get Arisu back to them one way or another, they were going to ‘win’ this deal and they would have their friend back.

_This was weird. Weirder than seeing Idia out of his lair and actually socializing with people. Riddle was in a boat watching over a loving couple surrounded by fireflies and a crab performing a love song – Kiss the Girl; he was watching Ariel and Prince Eric about to share a kiss on the lagoon before the eels knocked their boat over. He knew full well of the deal the princess of Atlantica had made, she was about to fulfill her end of the deal had the eels not interfere. The museum group would have been successful had the twins not interfere either._

_Before he could blink, he found himself under water as well; before him Urusla with King Triton; he watched the exchange between them and the Sea Witch was offering to let Ariel go for a price – the power of the seven seas the King had._

Upon awaking up, he had felt his heart had sank, in some weird way, he was watching the exchange Arisu and Azul had gone through; Azul would free the students he had enslaved for Arisu’s own freedom. Was that Azul’s game from the beginning? Another thing, this dream…was this the same stuff that Arisu had been going through since his time here? He knew the boy was dreaming about the past, but after what he had saw in last night’s dream was more than dreaming about the past. This would have to be tacked for later, he would talk to Arisu and the others about this; right now, he had a plan to go over with the others before they could do anything crazy – right after he cleaned this room, nothing a quick cleaning spell couldn’t fix. Nodding in approval of the order the room was in, he started out to return to Heartslabyul.

While Riddle had a headache inducing morning from the dream, over at Octavinelle; Azul was having a stressful night, sometime in the night Ace and Deuce had snuck into the lounge and stayed by the tank Arisu was in. He nearly used Riddle’s unique magic right there and then, instead he just had the twins drag off their sleeping forms back to their respective dorm. This wasn’t what he was anticipating in the slightest, those two Heartslabyul students were the ones who foolishly signed a deal and dragged the blond into this and yet Arisu was still going over to their sides – he should be yelling at them, shunning them, avoiding them because he had to sign away his freedom for them! So why? Why was he still trying to run back to their side? If that wasn’t enough to cause a headache; the stone was getting darker again, it was most likely due to the stress those two idiot humans were putting him through. No matter, today was the final day, when the sun had set, he would win this deal and he would make sure that Ace and Deuce were barred from entering Monstro Lounge or the Octavinelle dorm for good.

That wasn’t the only thing that got Azul to act up; when he and the twins had arrived at the lounge to check on their guest, they were greeted to something horrifying. Arisu was laying in the tank, floating on his back and being belly-up. Panic setting in the trio dropped whatever they had on their person (mostly the cane that Azul took with him) and rushed to the tank; it wouldn’t take long to change into their mer-form, and while Azul was against doing this, he was going to make an exception to the rule – they weren’t going to lose their damselfish, they wouldn’t let that happen under their watch. Once in the water and shifting into their forms, they immediately swam over to Arisu and pulled on his arm to bring him upright – this earned a heart attack from what happened next; the boy’s golden eyes snapped opened and he struggled in their grasps, they immediately let him go and he landed on the soft sand on the ground looking up at the three with wide eyes.

“What the hell!” Arisu cried out.

“You’re alive!” Azul sighed in relief as he held onto him. “Don’t you ever scare us like that again!”

Arisu blinked and moved out of his arms, he looked up to take in the appearance of the three and rubbed at his eyes; of course, they were mers. It made all the more sense why they would want to steal something from an underwater museum, still…seeing two eels and an octopus, he was starting to feel like Princess Ariel the more he stayed with these three. 

“What do you mean ‘don’t scare you like that again’? I was only sleeping?”

Azul looked at him in pure disbelief; “Arisu, you were sleeping with you stomach up! We thought you were dead!”

It finally dawned on him and what the situation was; since Arisu was part fish now and when a fish went belly-up…his gaze softened and he reached out to the trio, he still couldn’t swim but he still tried to make his way to them. Once close enough, he allowed them to curl around him and fret about his health; he waited until they were settled before trying to clear the air that he usually slept on his back or stomach since if he tried any other position, he would end up contorting himself in his sleep. It dawned on the trio that sleeping on one’s back was a human thing and Arisu was going of his human habits. With the misunderstanding out of the way, the group backed off and left the tank; Arisu just waved a silent goodbye to them knowing they still had today of the deal to get through – he didn’t mind it so much, he got to practice swimming in a tail and even though he found himself laying on the sand more often than not, he still got to enjoy it.

A few times Azul would come by to check on him and make sure he wasn’t going to die; he shook his head at the display of Arisu only getting as far as two strokes before landing onto the sand again. If they were back at Coral Sea a shark would have him as an easy lunch. Taking a drink of the breathing potion, Azul returned underwater, remaining in his human form; he swam up to the boy and took his hands into his and gently pulled him up – it was time Arisu had proper swimming lessons, and who better to teach him than a fellow mer. He gave a gentle assuring squeeze before pulling him along, watching the tail move with each movement; he frowned and stopped him in place before scolding him about what he was doing wrong.

“You need to move your body side to side.” Azul moved and took the boy’s tail into his hand. “Your tail sways like this.” He started to make his tail sway sideways. “And move your body accordingly.”

“Easy for you to say!” Arisu grumbled as he tried again but ended up sinking to the sand. “Azul, help!”

Azul sighed. “Arisu, I’m an octopus, not an eel.” He picked him up again. “I can only help you as much as I am able to.” He put a hand on Arisu's stomach to support him and with the other he took hold of the boy's back fin. Keeping his grip firm, he gently pushed the large fin to the right, and instinctively Arisu's tail moved to match the angle. Azul pulled the fin gently to the left and again the rest of Arisu's body followed suit.

It took thirty minutes before the boy was able to swim on his own and keep floating, but he would still have to relax on the sand to catch his breath as it was taxing on his new body to swim in ways he hasn’t swam before. Azul was pleased that Arisu was able to swim on his own without his help and left the tank to manage the lounge – as in, relax in the VIP room working on some paperwork for the lounge while the students working there took care of potential customers. It was probably Arisu’s favorite moment, he got to swim up to the tables closest to the tank and just relax with the patrons who were concerned for his wellbeing and he would assure them that he was fine and was just living life underwater for however long Azul intends to keep him like this. Somewhere down the line, he’s noticed something…odd, most of the patrons that have been showing up were from Savanaclaw and earlier when Azul had step out of his office to check on him and the now rowdy lounge, Arisu could have sworn he saw Leona and Ruggie – no, he definitely saw them; he saw Ruggie ‘bump’ into Azul and sometime after the prefect got into a panicked state. He had a bad feeling about this. 

He hated being right. He absolutely hated being right about things; the moment he saw Leona strut out of the office with Ruggie close behind him was when he knew things were going to head south – even more so when he saw Azul storm out after them. His heart sank and he couldn’t do much! He was in a helpless state and it sucked! 

“Incoming.” A savanaclaw student dropped a bottle into the pool, watching Arisu swim up with it using a lot of his energy to breach the surface and hang onto the platform and the bottle. The student grinned at him “Well, hurry up and drink it; you have your weird…whatever it is you do to help people. Can’t do that with a fin, can you?”

“Thought the rest of your dorm hated me.” Arisu shrugged and drank the potion. “Do not let me sink.”

The student shrugged and held his arms to keep him above water as the potion did its work in reverting the fin back into legs. When that was done, he pulled Arisu out of the tank and helped him back to the ground before shoving a bag into his arms and urging him to hurry up and get dressed – Arisu didn’t need to be told twice about it, the Savanaclaw dorm uniform was a little baggy on him, but there wasn’t time to be a choosing beggar, not when there was a chance that Azul might completely lose it. 

And lose it he did, there was a feral look in his eyes as he ended up taking abilities and powers left and right from his own dorm as well as from those unfortunate enough to have tried bolting from the lounge and dorm to get out– the sinking reality of the contracts being there to keep a balance was hitting hard. Arisu ran up to Leona and Ruggie who had a paled expression on their faces and demanded to know what the hell had happened; he didn’t like the answer, the good news was that Arisu was freed and Riddle would have his magic back (as well as others). The bad news was what happened before them after Leona destroyed the contracts.

The rest of the group had shown up as well as the twins; Jade and Floyd were trying to get Azul to back off in forcing magic from others as it would cause serious harm to him – there was ink manifesting with each ability he would steal from other students and it wasn’t long before it happened; Azul was in his octopus form; in some morbid way, it looked like a fit and flare dress with the tentacles acting as the ruffles of the dress. Ink covered his arms as the sleeves, and his eyes were white-out, save for the one glowing blue eye. It wasn’t going to be an easy battle as when the attacking group – Ace, Deuce, Grim, and Jack tried to fight him alongside with the twins, he would just heal himself and strike at them with his inky shadow that held a trident in its hands. 

Riddle looked over to where Arisu was standing and motioned him over, to which he silently obeyed and was now with Riddle, Trey, Cater, Rook, and Epel behind some coral; they were going to need a plan and they needed one fast unless they wanted to lose the prefect to madness – he may have been shady as hell, but that’s still no excuse to just leave him in this state. They knew they needed to hit the glowing eye for Arisu to do…whatever it was that he did to help the victim, but they were afraid of sending him out there because of his curse. Ideas were flung around from Rook using his hunting skills to Riddle distracting him with Off with Your Head. Finally, Arisu just said he had an idea and for them to trust him. They weren’t in agreement, but they knew they couldn’t really say much on the matter; they weren’t going to take his freedom again.

Arisu stood up and made his way to the battle, picking up a shell in the process. He gave a sharp whistle and waved an arm to get Azul’s attention; eyes were on him and Azul had a feral smile as he swam towards him, Ace rushed over and shove the blond out of the way before shooting a wind spell at Azul to push him back. Bad move. The mer used one of his tentacles to grab Ace by the neck and hold him in the air. 

“Let him go, Azul!” Arisu cried.

**hIs LiFe Is NoW tHe PrIzE wHiCh YoU mUsT EaRn!**

**“Don’t throw your life away for my sake!”** Ace cried. **“We fought so hard to free you!”** he gasped when Azul tightened his grip a little bit.

**YoU tRy My PaTiEnCe, MaKe YoUr ChOiCe!**

While Arisu wanted to curse at him for putting his friend in harm’s way like this, he kept a cool head and made his way over to him. He may not know why Azul was the way he is – that’s what the upcoming journey into the soul was for – but, he was going to help and this was the only way he could go about it.

 **“Pitiful creature of darkness, what kind of life have you known?”** he got close enough and rested his free hand on his pale face. **“Great Seven gave me courage to show you, you are not alone.”** He kissed his lips which took Azul off guard enough to drop Ace to the ground, the stunned expression was all Arisu needed to introduce the shell he was holding to Azul’s glowing eye.

**_*_ **   
_He was underwater again. Arisu was outside of an underwater cave, no doubt Azul was hiding out in there; he started to enter it and he was greeted to a hall of pearls on the walls, each pearl showed a memory and depending on how bright it was showed how fond he was of that particular memory. It wasn’t the only thing in the cave he noticed; there was a soft melody coming from deep in the cave, he had to strain his hearing for it._

**_Shamed into solitude, shunned by the multitude; I learned to listen – in my dark, I heard music. ~~“The only place I really fit in was inside my octopus pot.”~~ I long to teach the world; Rise up and reach the world, No one would listen…I alone could hear the music_ **

_The pearl beside him was dull and Arisu watched as a group of mermaids were bullying the octo-mer, if this weren’t a memory, he would have smacked those kids. Arisu shook his head and pulled back, he swam further into the hall and watched as each memory was filled with resentment for them. The hall started to get lighter and he saw it, two familiar twins swimming up to the octopus pot where Azul was hiding out in. Not only that, but by middle school, Azul had gained his unique power and was ‘helping’ others and stealing their talents in the process, a little revenge ploy._

**_“All those that bullied me for what I looked like…And then, all of their weak points, their worries that I thoroughly observed…I held tightly to all of them!” There was a small laugh. “If I probe their weaknesses, I could steal even the fins of someone who’s proud of their swimming. If I probe their worries, I could even steal someone’s beautiful voice. As long as I have this contract, I am invincible! I’m no longer a trashy, lonely octopus. I will control everything using my power. All of those people that made fun of me will bow down to me.”_ **

_Revenge was a nasty cloud, Arisu shook his head and continued further down, the shine beside him got so bright he held his hand over his eyes to shield them from the blinding light and the beautiful song had returned as he observed the memory before him; it was when they officially met at the lounge and Arisu had caught his attention that day on._

**_Then, at last, a voice in the gloom; seemed to cry ‘I hear you! I hear your fears, your torment and your tears!’ He saw my loneliness, shared in my emptiness… “I knew he could read souls; he saw mine…I had to keep him close by me!”_ **

_He wasn’t really trying when they had first met, it was an automatic thing – heck, he couldn’t see anything in Azul’s room that day, it was just a dark room with a candle, he couldn’t see anything and it worried him. But it appeared that Azul still wanted to be by him to heal. He had spent enough time down memory lane; he ignored the rest of the pearls and made his way to the end of the hall where it was an alchemy lab. Before him was the table and candle where he took his seat before Azul who was hiding out in a small cave, all that could be seen were those silvery-blue eyes of his._

_“Soul mending.” Azul chuckled. “A skill that is said to be near impossible to master.”_

_“Then you know why I’m here.” Arisu said softly. “Azul…”_

_“Shh.” He came from hiding and appeared before him. “You’re probably the rare person who hasn’t recoiled in disgust at the sight of me…your heart is too golden for that, Arisu.” He sat down and leaned on the table. “How long have you been able to do this?”_

_“The first time was accidental.” Arisu looked down “As was the second time…I don’t know how I’m doing this.”_

_“There are books at the library you could use.” He laced his fingers together. “But now it’s my turn to be confused; why help us? Riddle was cold around you; Leona was ready to murder you; and me? I enslaved you and took your legs.”_

_“I’m not repeating my reasoning, I just don’t want anyone to suffer.”_

_“Suffering is a part of life, Arisu; by helping me, you’re inevitably going to make others suffer.” He tilted his head. “Who’s to say I won’t do this again to the next batch of first years?”_

_Arisu looked up at him. “You won’t.” he said. “I can’t really explain it, but I have a feeling you’re not going to try this again.” He leaned forward. “Azul, what is it you’re hoping to get out of me aside from healing?”_

_“You know what they say, Success is the best form of revenge.” He took his hand. “If I were to have you by me, it would make everything easier – I could have access to what I need and cure you of the curse. Think about it! Everyone would look up to me as the octopus who did the impossible! No one would look down upon me anymore! I would show those carefree mers that I’m more than just…just a crybaby…no one would leave me. You won’t leave me!”_

_“It’s true, being successful is the best form of revenge…but using others for your own personal gain will make people leave you.” He shook his head. “You have a successful lounge, why not expand on that – create a chain business with it! You may not be known as the octopus that cured an ancient curse, but you would be known for the best tasting food in both the magical community and among the mortal realm!”_

_Azul looked at him and chuckled, “You’re willing to let me run free in your world? I could take advantage of humans.” He thought for a bit. “Hm…but what could humans offer me? Of course, I could have them give up their skills or their own business.”_

_“I take it back!”_

_Azul laughed. “Sorry darling, but no take backs.” He picked the candle up. “I’ll take over your world starting with Sunnydale, you’re not getting rid of me that easy.” He grinned. “For real though; I’ll consider your alternative method…start swimming.”_

Azul opened his eyes to see the twins over him. “Jade…Floyd…”

Jade helped him up. “You overblotted…don’t you remember?”

“You were draining everyone’s magic, you looked so lame.” Floyd huffed.

Azul’s eyes widened. “W-Where’s Arisu? What happened to him?!”

“Present!” Arisu was sitting on the ground. “You didn’t do anything to me, I actually approached you.” He was playing with another shell. “So…I have to confess; you got Grim to score 80 points, that’s an impressive feat, I hadn’t been able to praise you for that because…well…obvious reasons.”

“What are you-” Azul started, but Ace interrupted him.

“It’s true, we all got high marks because of your notes for one night.” Ace grinned. “Studying from you was easier than the after school sessions with Prefect Rosehearts!”

Azul was just frozen in place from the praise; the only thing that snapped him back to normal was the twins at their usual antics, poking fun of the tears welling up and snapping Azul back to his normal self. Arisu couldn’t help but to chuckle at the sight of it all.

“That reminds me.” Epel came forward with the picture. “Here’s the picture you wanted us to take; we brought it back before sunset, it’s our win and Arisu is free again!”

Leona walked over and took it, he looked it over. “What’s so special about this picture?”

Floyd snatched it from his hands. “Ahh! This was the picture we took when we were on the field trip!” he pointed to two twins. “Look! Look! Here’s Jade and I! and behind us hiding away is…Baby Azul!” he pointed to the small chubby octopus mer.

That got a lot of reactions. Azul was hiding in his jacket as the picture was passed around – even saying how much he was trying to get rid of any final existing pictures of his past. Arisu couldn’t help but to crack a smile at that, he cleared his throat and asked Jade and Floyd if they still had his belongings in the dorm – they did, and they went to get his things. With his wallet back in hand, he took out a small picture and handed it to Azul.

“Here, it’s only fair.” 

Azul took it and looked down before his disdain and embarrassed look changed completely to shock. “Shut up!” he looked back at Arisu. “There is no way this is you as a child!” Arisu just nodded at him. “Well then, since you gave this to me, it’s only fair that I share it with everyone.”

“Wait what?!” Arisu paled. “Oh no you don’t!”

Azul went up to the group and handed the picture out. “Who wants to see the darling Alice live up to his name?”

“Azul you bastard! Give that back!” Arisu tried pouncing but it was too late, the twins took the picture first and grinned before handing it around.

“Damselfish really _is_ Alice!”

“Shut up, that’s nowhere near Alice in Wonderland-!”

“Ahh the Victorian style outfit says otherwise.” Rook chuckled. “Well, a gentleman version of the story – Red and black, going for the Queen of Hearts style, were we?”

“I just liked the color scheme back then!”

Riddle looked it over and grinned; “Well Arisu, if you wanted to be in the Queen’s court _that_ badly, you could have just asked.”

Ace just stared down at it; “I fail to see the attraction – What the hell is going on with your mouth?”

“They’re called ‘braces’ asshole!” Arisu had a pink face.

“Yeah I can see that! Holy shit, Trey would’ve had a field day with you if you met back then!”

Trey winced. “I can only hope your dental practice is better than in this picture.”

Arisu blew a raspberry at them. “Go fuck yourself.”

Azul just snickered at him. “And I thought I was bad…”

“Go back to your octopus pot, I regret sharing my past with you.”

“I can destroy that picture for a price.”

“Nope!” Arisu shook his head. “Not happening, unlike some people I embrace my past!" that just earned a slap to the head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Yes, I know I went out of order in Down Once More's lyrics, but I had to in order to make this work.
> 
> Now excuse me while I go into a corner and cry because I had to pick the one scene that makes me cry in the musical.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is short; yes I know but I have some announcements:
> 
> 1\. I'm going to be doing soft-plot chapters. They're basically what happens behind the scenes of the main story. The reason behind this is because I've yet to finished Scarabia's chapter but I don't want to leave you lovely people hanging. Soft-plots are going to have: Characters interactions, full musical numbers that haven't made the final cut, Arisu striking hearts, and anything else I can squeeze out within reason until we get to Scarabia's arc.
> 
> 2\. Events: I'll TRY to do these, I can't promise a thing - I only did the ghost bride because I was in a Phantom Manor kick (Come on, the moment I heard Vincent Price had a hand in the voice department I jumped on that the first chance I got and started to learn all I could about the attraction. Vincent Price is my favorite Horror icon)
> 
> 3\. Family: This is a tricky one because I'm still figuring this out, I promise I'll do what I can with this too (Curse you world building).
> 
> 4\. I'm posting this now because I have work tonight at Scream Town - time to scare people :D

Waking up at Ramshackle was a foreign feeling for him since he’s spent the three days at Octavinelle and one night in a tank. Finding himself in bed was a relaxing feeling, it took some time before he could drag himself out of the comfortable confines and drag himself downstairs where breakfast awaited him – instant noodles, he wasn’t in the mood to cook anything today. After everything that had happened to him these past three days; he deserved to be lazy and he deserved to take it easy. Grim was still doing everything in his power to make it up to Arisu, it wasn’t much, but he was teaming up with Ace and Deuce who did the heavy work while he was the brains behind the genius – unfortunately, the first idea was what Arisu walked in on and he already felt his soul leaving his body; the three were in the kitchen and were trying to make breakfast.

Now, Ace wasn’t a bad cook and neither was Deuce. They actually made amazing things whenever they would come over unannounced and would make lunch or dinner in return of their sudden visits and they would enjoy it while watching whatever movie they could find in Arisu’s library and relax alongside the ghosts. No, the reason Arisu felt his soul leaving his body was because of the grand idea they were concocting; breakfast in bed consisting of sweets – pancakes, French toast, scones, and a tart. At least the first two and the tart were the easiest to make. The scone however…it was painful to watch as they argued over the recipe before them. It was going to be a long morning. 

The trio looked over and smiled when they saw their friend up and about, Ace had came over to him first and asked how his legs were and if he was still having trouble getting use them – This was a common conversation he’s had and it would always take a while for Arisu to assure him that he was walking fine and that one day of having a fin wasn’t going to make him suddenly lose the ability to walk. But Ace was concerned for him and that was enough for him to go through the same conversation. With a smile, Arisu lent a hand in the kitchen to help with their breakfast shenanigans; fortunately, the kitchen didn’t catch fire with their arguing and breakfast between the four turned out better than expected. With no classes going on today, they decided to host a movie marathon and went through whatever was on a streaming service or what DVDs Arisu had on his person; they were having fun making snide remarks and various commentaries – Horror was not safe from these four. Ironically enough, Arisu hated most horror movies and the only reason he was able to enjoy the ones with his friends was because of the crude humor that came from them. 

Their fun came to a halt when the door was heard being opened, Arisu set his plate down and went to greet whoever decided to visit; he smiled when he saw it was Riddle but paled slightly when he saw the twins at the door. Crap. What did Jade and Floyd want this time?

“Damselfish~” Floyd picked him up and held him close. “You’re looking healthy, come on~ Jade and I have a gift for your friends!”

“What kind of gift are you talking about?” Ace walked over with Deuce. “And put him down!”

Jade smiled and gently pried Arisu from his brother’s arms and set him down by Riddle. “Well…I doubt any one of you had the proper chance to visit the Atlantica museum, so we’re taking you there for a personal tour – and to return the picture.” 

Riddle crossed his arms and looked away. “They could be quite convincing in this set of events.” He sighed. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, Arisu, they’re not going to force you to come with.”

Arisu shrugged a little. “I don’t mind going.” He assured. “We’re not trading our legs, are we?”

“Absolutely not.” Riddle shot a look to the twins before turning to Arisu with a quiet look; it was a look the blond knew all so well ‘we need to talk at once’, it was the same look he would give whenever someone’s grades were starting to drop. 

After cleaning up the kitchen and the lounge area, the four friends left with Riddle and the twins towards the Mirror Chamber where the rest of the group were meeting up; there was one off thing about the group – Trey didn’t have his signature fedora and when asked about it, he just turned away and muttered to not worry about. They were going to worry about this at a later date. Once everyone had drank the breathing potion, everyone passed through the mirro and into Coral Sea.

Cater was right, it was ‘extremely photogenic’ Arisu’s eyes lit up as he began straying from the group and exploring what he could before Riddle and Trey gently led him back to the group, lightly scolding him about staying with the others and to not get lost. He had a light pink on his face as he followed the group into the museum – the guards there looked them over and muttered to each other about them being the special tour group that afternoon – Azul, you sneaky octopus, what the hell were you telling security? Is a question Arisu wanted to ask the most given the current situation, the only thing that was stopping him was seeing that Azul was still in human form; he actually wanted to see the octopus form more.

“Welcome to the Atlantica Museum, gentlemen.” Azul smiled. “Today, I and the twins will be your tour guides for the full day.” 

The twins, now in their mer form – a set of eels, swam over and pulled Arisu and Riddle from the group before spinning them around and letting them stumble into the arms of Trey and Rook. After recovering, the group followed the twins into the museum to see everything they had to offer – well, most of the group. Epel, Arisu, and Riddle were still with Azul at the entrance of the museum with the other photographs; the Pomefiore student harshly insisted that he held onto the picture so they could return it, Arisu was there because he was more or less concerned for the other, and Riddle was there because he didn’t entirely trust Azul alone with Arisu.

Azul rolled his eyes at Riddle as he took the picture from Epel. “I’m not going to destroy the picture.” He assured as he went to the wall and placed it back.

“That’s not why I’m here and you know it.” Riddle snapped.

“Why am I not surprised?” Azul huffed and took a step away from the picture. “Out of everyone in your motley crew, you’re the most protective of Arisu.”

“I’m stopping both of you here.” Arisu scolded. “I’m not having you two fight about me; I’m perfectly fine and while I appreciate the concerns…”

“Now it’s my turn to stop you.” Epel said. “You need to stop trying to take on heavy burdens alone – you didn’t need to sign your freedom away, you’re resourceful and could have found a way to take that picture instead…why did you sign yourself away?”

“I can answer that.” Azul spoke up. “It’s the same reason he’d look at Riddle and Leona with pain in his eyes – he can do more than see inside your soul room; he’s a soul mender, he’ll do what he can to help clear it up.”

“Yeah, that was an accidental ability.” Arisu shook his head. “I’m going to start reading up on it during break.”

“Wise decision.” Azul adjusted his glasses. “But we shall worry about that at another date, you boys are here for a relaxing day.” He smiled and led them through the halls. 

The Museum trip was actually fun; especially with seeing how mers perceived human things in the past – such as the golden fork that the mermaid princess used as a comb. It was entertaining to say the least and it cracked a few smiles here and there, what got a lot of attention was some of the jewelry on display that came from the Titanic itself – where they managed to get some of these things, Arisu would never know and he was frankly too afraid to ask. Actually, a lot of interesting human things on display would come from shipwrecks from years gone by (still wondering why they would bother, but again he was too afraid to ask – he knew he wouldn’t like the answer they gave him).

“And here is the skull of Christopher Moody, a lot of humans keep confusing him with William Moody – but they were both ruthless pirates and one was just blood-thirsty.” Floyd shrugged. “The pirate flag he had was cool though.” He pointed to the red flag with a golden jolly roger, an hourglass with black wings, and a white silhouette of an arm holding a dagger.

“…Okay, I know god damn well Moody was hanged, where did you get the skull?” Trey demanded

Jade thought for a bit. “Let’s see…this was back in 1722 I want to say someone from Coral Sea went up in a human disguise and decided to go scavenging, I know that once upon a time they brought the head back when it had flesh and hair and-”

“Okay, that’s enough of that horror show!” Arisu cried, as he covered his ears

“Ari can’t handle horror.” Grim said with his ears flattened.

Trey shook his head. “Do try to refrain from giving more facts like that, Jade.”

“He’s not Jade, I am.” Floyd pointed to himself. “He’s Floyd.”

Riddle took his wand out in a threatening manner. “Oh no you don’t, we are not playing guess the twin!”

“Ahh~ You’re no fun Goldfish~” Floyd pouted. “Fiiine~ We’ll continue the tour then.”

The rest of the tour lasted until sunset and with everyone being guided to the mirror so they could return to Night Raven College. The twins willed themselves back to human and got dressed with the spare uniforms they’ve brought and the others were exchanging pictures with each other as Azul casted a quick dry spell on everyone – it was getting colder and colder now in the season; it would look pretty bad if everyone had gotten sick after this trip. With all said and done, everyone started out of the chamber and went to the hall of mirrors to return to their respective dorm. 

That was the plan at least, Riddle ended up accompanying Arisu to Ramshackle with Trey following close behind; he knew he needed a levelheaded person with them if he had any hopes of this visit to go well. Riddle was still a loose canon at times depending on the situation of things and he didn’t want to go off on Arisu because of it. Once at Ramshackle, Trey left the two in the lounge while he went to get something for them to eat since they most likely missed dinner due to the tour they were on. Silence lingered before Riddle broke the ice.

“We need to talk about the dreams you’ve been having.” Riddle said sharply. “I know they were details of the past, but there’s more to them than that.”

“Are you trying to scold me for something I have no control over?” Arisu challenged.

“No, but after what happened…it makes sense; the sleepwalking, you going to a mirror and staring in a daze, and the dreams…someone is sending a message here.” Riddle sighed and looked up at him with a pained look. “Arisu, please answer honestly; what is your role back in the mortal realm?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean – and I’m not trying to be cold to you here – you constantly claim you’re from an average family and have no affinity with the coven, but receiving messages in the form of dreams is not something that happens to an ‘average’ person; Arisu…if you’re lying about who you are…”

Arisu shook his head. “I’m not lying, Riddle.” He said quietly. “I don’t know why this is happening, but…what happened to you that caused this conclusion?”

“I was the one who dreamt the past you’ve been seeing…” Riddle sighed. “Fine, let’s pretend for a minute that you’re truly nothing special; why would someone be sending messages to you through dreams?”

“Could they really be counted as dreams?” Che’nya asked, appearing beside Riddle. “You said a mirror had played a part in it, yes? Perhaps one should consult a peacock for mirror inquiries, they live and breathe mirrors after all.”

“Alright, enough is enough.” Riddle turned to his friend. “Che’nya, you better start telling us what it is you’re doing to come and go here as you please.”

The cat boy grinned up at him and stood up. “Well, I suppose I could tell you~ I have a couple of friends I’ve been teaming up with to ensure I can get here undetected.” He played with Riddle’s hair. “That’s all I’m going to tell you, but don’t worry, you’ll meet my friends soon enough~”

“Going back to the mirror, do you really think that a Pomefiore student will be able to have the answers?” Arisu asked.

Che’nya smiled and went up to Arisu. “Depending on who you ask; I doubt that apple farmer will be able to help you – he’d most likely suggest you shatter it, of course, if you do that, you’ll get seven years of bad luck.” He gently pinched his cheek. “Choose your peacock wisely, Alice~ I have to go now, but it’s great to see you’re back on your feet again! I would have visited you in the lounge but…you know how we cats hate water~”

Despite being a mysterious one, there were times Che’nya had made some sense with his weird speech. Riddle and Arisu both agreed that tomorrow they would visit Pomefiore and try and ask someone – preferably Rook or Vil – about the strange mirror in the boy’s room. Heck, their founder used a magic mirror, so they should be able to give them the answers they needed for this strange case. Arisu invited Trey and Riddle to spend the night with him and brought them to the guest rooms to settle in – the bright side to the renovations that’s been happening, the dorm finally had new mattresses and new covers for the bed.

Speaking of bed, Grim was already making himself home on the cat bed talking in his sleep. Arisu smiled and covered him up with a small blanket, quietly wishing him sweet dreams. He sat on the bed and kicked off his shoes before laying on his back; finally, soft bed again! He was about to settle for the night had it not been a…wait…was his mirror glowing? Getting up, Arisu went up to it – he wasn’t sleepwalking or dreaming, he was wide awake as far as he could tell.

“…Hey…-me?” the voice called. 

Arisu stumbled back a little and looked around, where did the voice come from? “Riddle?” he called. “Trey?”

The voice returned; it was much clearer now – a little on the high-pitched side “Is someone…Is someone there?”

A voice from the mirror? Arisu approached and reached out to the mirror. “I’m here…who are you?”

Nothing. The glow vanished as did the voice. 

Now he was ready to get to Pomefiore and get their help with this strange mirror of his. He shook his head and went to bed; he was in for a dreamless night. 

*****

“Roi du Poison?” Rook repeated. “He’s packing up his things for break, why?”

Right, break was creeping up and everyone wanted to make sure they had what they needed before they headed out; Trey and Riddle let their shoulders drop, they were hoping to run into Vil, but instead they got the strange hunter and vice dorm head. Riddle straightened up and kept a neutral expression on his face as he went straight to the point of their visit.

“We have a magic mirror problem and we were hoping someone here could help us.” Riddle explained. “We figured going to the dorm who spends hours in front of one would know the answer.”

Rook hummed and tapped his chin; “Well, I’m afraid I am out of my element here, Roi du Roses.” He admitted. “I’ll go get Vil, you two make yourselves comfortable.”

The two settled in the lounge of the dorm and waited in silence; if this were a different situation, they would have enjoyed the elegance that was Pomefiore; but as of now, they were here on a mission while they let Arisu pack his belongings and making the needed arrangements – they knew Grim was going to be going home with him but there was also the other arrangements. They just had to play the waiting game until then.

“Rook said you needed help with a magic mirror?” Vil approached them. “What kind of help are you needing?”

Trey spoke up. “Well…we have reasons to believe that it’s providing visions and is using some kind of power to call Arisu to it to show said visions. We just want to know what the spell is, who casted it and…yeah.”

“Oh? You mean the mirror in Ramshackle?” Vil nodded and thought for a bit. “Back when the two dorms were founded the mirror wasn’t there; I want to say around the sixties is when the mirror came in and when we had our first recorded female student – she was an oddball, and she had the mirror with her.” He shook his head. “That’s as far as my memory will go, I’ll have to do some research into it; why do you care about that old mirror anyway?”

“Because it’s causing Arisu to sleepwalk and we don’t want that?” Riddle said like it was obvious. “It’s clearly doing something to him, and back after the…Octavinelle incident, I was the one who got hit with the visions afterwards.”

Vil just shrugged. “But are you losing sleep because of it?”

“Well…no, we’re not…”

“Then there’s nothing to fret about.” He waved his hand dismissively. “I’ll still look into it for you, but for now I wouldn’t stress about it too much.”

Why did that sounded like the ‘easier said than done’ situation?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unlike Arisu, I freaking love horror movies.


	24. Soft Plot 5: History and Clubs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place sometime after Magical Shift but before Finals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I know Happily Ever After isn't Disney and it was an "unofficial sequel" and some other history BS behind it but uh...Look, the day the world stops giving me fuel to work with is the day I stop going after films like that (Carol Channing, I love you gal!) But seriously; give me something to make fun of and I WILL use every ounce of my devil brain to go after it
> 
> Happily Ever After, I loved you as a child but now? You're on the fire buddy.

If there was one thing Arisu was forever grateful for is that Crowley was a man of his word – to an extent, Ramshackle’s renovations were still going on but at least he wasn’t worried about the roof falling onto his head or falling through rotted floors. Those were the first to be fixed, the second was the bed and kitchen – and they were finished just as the tea party at Heartslabyul had ended, and now? He had brand new windows in the lounge and a fixed-up fireplace! Okay, so he may not be a huge fan of the food Crowley had bought – but he managed to find a way to make things work; he was currently sitting on the sofa and playing a round of solitaire with a bag of chips beside him – he had received most of his belongings when his aunt had come by but there wasn’t much to do with them, he didn’t feel like listening to music at the moment and nor was he in the mood to watch a movie, so he was without background noise. Today was a peaceful afternoon; Grim was running around with Ace and Deuce, the ghosts were in the graveyard out back working on an acapella song, and here was Arisu playing cards alone. This was just perfect.

**SLAM!**

And there went the door, Arisu was praying that it hadn’t broken off the hinges – the heating of the place was finally replaced with a fireplace that was up to code and it was already hard enough to convince the headmaster to see about replacing the TV and to get WiFi into the dorm. He really didn’t want to badger Crowley about another amenity already.

“Arisu!” Grim pounced and grabbed his shirt in his paws. “We need your help!”

Sure enough, alongside Grim who looked panicked, Ace and Deuce had a paled expression on their faces. Arisu sighed and moved the cat monster off him and looked up at everyone. “Alright, what’s wrong?” he asked.

Ace bowed his head. “We…were just reminded of the history project Mr. Trein assigned us – we can do it in a group but…we…please help us!”

Arisu had a slight paled expression as well. “Oh right…that assignment.” He cleared his throat. “Of course, I’ll help you!” he assured. “In fact, I was just thinking we could do our project on the Beautiful Queen.”

Deuce looked at him with a slight worried look; “Arisu, you _do_ know what the assignment is, right?”

“Yeah…but uh just remind me?”

“Well you got the right idea about the Great Seven, but we’re supposed to tell their story from an outsider’s perspective – I know a lot of our peers are just going to look online but…Ace said that you had a pessimistic view.”

“Whoa!” Arisu held his hand up. “Time out, Ace, are you trying to kill me?! If we use the knowledge from home in this project a mob’s going to raise up and come after me!”

Ace held his hands up. “Whoa, hear me out! Look, we were thinking about using your views and our history as a nice blend; we’ll worry about your views later, right now…you’re the studious one out of the three of us perhaps we could work on the history portion together?”

Arisu sighed. “I’d rather we have our work looked over by a Pomefiore student when we’re done, I don’t want to disrespect their dorm.”

The group was in silent agreement at that. The good news with everything was that was happening they were on somewhat good terms with Pomefiore as a whole – Vil went out of his way to work with anyone who was lacking in bringing their full potential out into the open (Ace was a victim of this one time when Vil was finishing up in the gym and saw Ace shooting hoops alone, the end result was Vil guiding him in mixing wind magic with his plays; it would give his movements more fluidity and would improve in his plays. It actually worked out and he was one of the better players on the team.). Rook and Epel had helped out in the investigation of the Magical Shift accidents, so they were on good terms and it was probably best they don’t piss the dorm off because they botched a history project off the Beautiful Queen. With a heavy heart, they decided to head over to the library to get whatever material they could get their hands on about the queen and bookmark the pages they wanted and agreed they would talk to one of the three about their project and what points would be the best to use in this situation.

It was chaos; in the end they were holding their heads and sighing over what they were facing with – though they found a lot of interesting things, they were actually feeling their heads implode at the information staring back at them. Grim had groaned and tried to admit surrender again, Ace and Deuce were trying to get some work done – this failed on so many levels, they weren’t sure where to begin. Arisu was having some headway, he pointed out that the Queen had a brother and the good news about that was they had something new to work with – until they got a surprise visit from a familiar purple-haired RSA student who advised them not to bring that up with the peacocks; it would look bad if the peacocks went after the hearts out of retaliation. If this were anything like the magical shift, they would probably take what the weird cat boy had said to heart, but what was the big deal if they brought up the brother around one of the Pomefiore students? They just decided to go with their original plan and brought their books over to the dorm in question; no matter how many times they would visit the dorm, they were still amazed by it.

Entering the threshold and being greeted to the grand glamor of everything; the quartet were starstruck as they walked into the lounge where their friends were; Rook and Epel were at a table where a mock tea party was set up – Arisu remembered that sometime during the investigation that Rook would reschedule tea time between them, and sitting beside them and leading it was Vil. Well, at least finding them was the easiest part; the trick was to say ‘hey, could you help us with our report’ without sounding like they were procrastinating until the last minute. Ace, Deuce, and Arisu agreed to let their ‘Alice’ do the talking since he had a better way with words – this plan went south the moment Grim rushed over and jumped onto the sofa beside Vil and looked up at the trio with a pitiful expression on his face.

“Senpai! You have to help us!”

Vil scoffed. “Beautiful fur, but a crude attitude.” He sighed. “What is it?”

“We have a history report and we were going to base it off the Beautiful Queen, but there’s so much information we don’t even know where to start – okay no, we had the idea to start off with the unknown fact about her brother-.”

Vil slammed the cup he was holding back onto the saucer and grabbed Grim by the scruff of the neck. “I beg your pardon.” He growled out.

Arisu rushed over and took Grim into his arms after prying him from Vil. “Oh my god, please don’t kill him!” he begged.

“Where did you learn about that disgrace of the family?” Vil demanded, not caring about Arisu’s words.

Ace held out the history book that had the page about Malice bookmarked, Vil snatched it from his hands and flipped to the page, his scowl growing with each second before he slammed it shut. Muttering something about how this wasn’t supposed to be in the library to begin with. It took him a while before he was able to recover and get back into a calm mindset before he was fully able to talk to the strange group without lashing out at them; he folded his hands and looked Epel dead in the eyes in silent question – he was in the same year as the quartet and therefor had the same assignment, and so help him if he hadn’t started on his project. Epel just gave a tired and annoyed look, he did do his history assignment – half assed it, but did it. 

“Right then, Rook could you take over on Epel’s lessons; I have some procrastinators to assist.” Vil stood up and turned to them. “We’re going to get this done before dinner.”

“Consider the job done.” Rook assured him.

That was the rest of the day; Vil had took the quartet to another room – more specifically the training room for dance; he figured that with hardly any distractions (save for the mirror walls) would make it easier for the group to work in. And it did, Vil stood to the side and let the four talk out what they wanted in their report and Vil would nod in approval at them and would only come over to check on progress – which they’ve made tremendous amount of. After they got everything figured out, Grim had asked Vil about the meltdown earlier when the Beautiful Queen’s brother was mentioned and that was when the prefect’s demeanor changed from proud to back to a scowl; he tried to keep a level head as he explained that Malice was nothing more but a coat-tail rider who tried to use his sister’s influence to do whatever (despite having his own magic), he was disowned and exiled and after the Queen’s passing he returned and…it took Vil every last bit of nerves to keep calm so he could finish the tale. Supposedly, the ‘brother’ tried to avenge his sister by going after Snow White; he had a solid plan with a cloak of petrification to turn the ‘Fair Princess’ to stone – that was actually genius, Vil made a small note to try that with a certain rival – however, the downfall to that magic user was being taken down by a child.

“Wait go back a second, a child?” Arisu asked in disbelief.

Vil huffed. “Technically she and six others were the ‘cousins’ of the Seven Dwarves, but…if memory serves me correctly, neither of the fourteen wanted anything to do with one another; they only remained civil because Snow White invited the ‘Dwarfelles’ to the wedding too.” He shrugged. “The runt of the group was some twerp who was afraid of her own thunder powers and had serious self-esteem issues; honestly, for those favored by Mother Nature those seven never really did anything useful with their magical abilities – I still die inside just thinking about those incompetent seven; the Seven Dwarfs were more useful than their cousins and I swear if any of you tell anyone I said that, I will destroy you on every social media platform.” 

“Our lips are sealed.” Deuce assured. “But why would such an embarrassing chapter in the Queen’s life be in this school?”

“That’s what I’d like to know, these books were banned from Night Raven College years ago.” Vil shook his head. “Moving on, do you have everything you need?”

“We just need the pessimistic views of our favorite mortal and we should be good; we need the facts as well as the version from an outsider’s point of view.” Ace grinned. “Fortunately, I know Arisu will help us out there.”

Vil raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Is that so? This should be good; do enlighten me, potato, what is the Queen’s reputation in the mortal realm?”

Arisu stood up and moved so he was close to the door. “You’re not going to like it.” He warned. “Basically, back home she’s wicked in every sense of the word – she tried to murder a princess who was only fourteen because the mirror said the kid was fair in beauty and a kind heart, there’s a reason I call the ‘Beautiful Queen’ Krista Sparks 2.0 and that would be because of her three attempted murders, each dealing with poison. So uh, Queen Grimhilde is actually one of the worst people out there especially since she left who is presumably Snow White’s father to die in a dungeon and personally, I get a sense of relief after hearing about her falling to her death off a cliff…karma justice if you will.” He opened the door. “And now, I am going to run for my life before you kill me.”

He couldn’t really stop himself from chuckling as Arisu bolted out of the room; he was a curious one to say the least. The three that stayed behind just looked up at him with a worried expression; he had to be honest, the first years from other dorms were absolutely fun to mess with. Vil just said nothing and only nodded to the door to give them time to head out before he ‘targeted them next’. He watched them hurry to collect their things and rush after Arisu shortly after; that mortal was one curious being, he knew the mortal world would have a different view on the Great Seven but he never expected to hear the story like that. Suppose the theory of alternate lives was proving to be true – now if only he could get more information from Arisu about his world without scaring the boy off. With a light shrug, he just made his way back to where Rook and Epel were cleaning up the tea set and gave his assistance; while the potato they had in their care was still a work in progress, Epel was coming a long way – sort of, he did try to help a maiden in distress (even if the end result was a vengeful spirit trying to hang him). Everything was falling into place; if this kept up, both projects will definitely have a successful end result. They always did.

“Epel, tomorrow we’re going to fix up your studying habits.” Vil said sharply. “Your grades are fine, thank god, but the rest is lackluster.”

The lavender-haired boy just glowered at him. “Yes Prefect.” He muttered.

*****

Vil wasn’t the only one who was impressed; when Riddle first told Trey that Arisu was banned from the Heartslabyul kitchen, he was actually confused as to why – then he saw it first hand when the boy came in asking if the Vice-dorm head could help make some snacks to share with the light music club; of course, Trey agreed to help and offered to make a variety of cookies to share and it was only after they got the cookies into the oven is when it happened; Arisu was sitting on the counter eating leftover cookie dough. He now understood why Riddle banned him from the kitchen, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now except try to get the now empty bowl away from him.

With a shake of his head, Trey went and sat at the table talking to Arisu about whatever came to mind; it was here he learned that Arisu wasn’t really planning to live the life of a magician or even go through the coven way of life, if anything, Arisu was actually aiming for something simple in his future – he was going to be running an online store selling blankets and living a comfortable life. Just earn enough to have a peace of mind and nothing more. Trey had to admit that it was a good plan and even agreed that he would do something similar – just change selling blankets with being a dental surgeon.

Even after the cookies were done and packaged, Arisu still stayed with Trey and helped him around the dorm; he had time before the music club and there really wasn’t much to do in those meetings so he stayed behind mostly and helped where he could around Heartslabyul. Trey actually found it easier to get things done with his ‘assistant’ running around, of course the easy life had to come to a halt when Riddle returned from Equestrian club and saw the sight before him and demanded to know why Arisu was skipping out on his own club duties – the anger was subsided when Arisu told him the nature of the Light Music club and it was replaced with just annoyance; this boy had so much potential and he was wasting it by doing nothing in a group with a ‘club’ label. 

“That’s going to change right now.” Riddle scolded. “You’re joining something that will unleash your true potential.”

“Riddle, I doubt there’s anything that will work.” Trey spoke up. “We don’t have a sewing club that would utilize what his ideal after-school life entails.” He laid a hand on his chin. “Sports wise his options are limited…perhaps we could talk Crowley into starting a new club of his choosing.”

Arisu’s eyes lit up at that. “I think I have a club in mind!” he jumped up. “I know I originally avoided this because I didn’t want to run into my old team, but, how about the cycling club! Competitive Cycling!” 

Riddle thought for a bit and nodded; “It would keep you active and moving.” He agreed. “I’ll put in the submission, of course you’re going to have to find some members; the limit for such is at least seven, then there’s the dedication you need to have in order to keep your team in top-shape for any and all competitions.”

“It’ll be a good thing I’ll join him.” Trey smiled. “I know I’m already in the science club, but it’ll only be until he has everything in order.”

Arisu shook his head. “Trey, I respect you want to help out, but…I think I got this.” He assured him. “Trust me on this.” 

“Alright.” Trey kissed his head and smiled. “And let’s sweeten this idea up; come home with a first-place prize for your team and I’ll make sure your victory party is one of a kind.”

“You have yourself a deal.” Arisu shook his hand and smiled at Riddle. “Let’s go see Crowley!”

Trey couldn’t help but to laugh as he saw Riddle and Arisu hurry out of the Heartslabyul dorm; he had to thank Arisu for everything. Ever since the boy showed up in their school there’s been a sense of lightness happening – Riddle was smiling more and though he was still strict, he wasn’t as harsh as he had been in the past; Leona was a little more social even if he kept to his own and would let Arisu approach from time to time; being allied with Pomefiore’s vice-dorm head and being a student of Vil’s; and among other things; there was definitely something about their ‘Alice’ that was bringing the dorms closer together than ever before and it would forever surprise him. Trey just smiled though, even though he wasn’t one to show it so easily, he had a soft spot for the strange boy as well and he would be lying if he said he hadn’t already started planning what kind of cake he was going to make for Arisu’s birthday – he was going to use the brief conversations they would share to his advantage since no doubt the others would be badgering Idia for information. November 23rd, he had plenty of time and he was going to take great care in planning everything out. 

For now, he had to meet with the science club – always started ten minutes after Riddle returned from his club. He would begin planning the moment he got back.


	25. Timeline Help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which I am an idiot and never thought about timelines when it came to the soft-plots

Okay so...Me and Meg we were talking and uh...turns out I forgot to put crucial information: Timelines so uh here's to help us out some and hopefully I don't make this mistake again (Watch as I do anyway)

  1. I Won't Say I'm In Love - Takes place sometime after the events of Chapter 11 [Specifically the scene where Riddle and Arisu had their moment at their neutral ground picnic]
  2. Happy Halloween - Takes place the day AFTER the Halloween party/Ghost Bride incident
  3. Candy Ice Temptation/Club Meeting - Takes place during the events of Chapter 11
  4. Royalty Team up - Takes place after Crowley lied about the stairs but during when Arisu is visiting the Monstro Lounge for the first time
  5. History and Clubs - Takes place after the Magical Shift tournament but before Finals/Octavinelle's arc start



Future soft Plots:

  1. Journey to the Past - takes place after Octavinelle
  2. That Student, Curry Making - Sometime before finals [Because no-one had a healthy diet when studying]



Event Chapters/Specials

  * Fairy Gala [Malleus/Arisu]
  * Rabbit Heart
  * The Sleeping Prince
  * Beans Camo
  * Halloween Pt. 3
  * Halloween pt. 4
  * Birthdays
  * Starlight Wishes



And now comes the fun part: So far we've had the following interactions (however brief): Vil, Rook, Epel, Jack, Ruggie, Leona, Riddle, Trey, Cater, Ace, Deuce, Malleus, Silver, Sebek, Lilia, Azul, Jade, Kalim, Jamil, and Floyd

So, I'm going to be a while getting to Scarabia and I'm a procrastinating bitch who wants to write anything but the main story right now; READERS! TELL ME WHO YOU WANT TO SEE MORE OF WITH ARISU before we hit up the next arc! Comment please and I will grant your desires.


	26. Soft Plot 6: Journey to the Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place before the Octavinelle arc

Darkness. 

It was all Arisu could really see, he didn’t like this in the slightest bit as he hated the dark, he feared the dark and being in it for long periods of time was frightening to him. He wanted the light, where was it? Why was he alone?

Voices. 

There was hope yet, he just had to follow the voices through the dark and he would be in the light once more – he didn’t recognize the voices, but he didn’t care, he just wanted out of this dark hell and be out in the light and around people again. The voices were getting louder and louder with each step, this was it, he was finally going to be out and be basking in the light once more.

“He’s awake!”

“I’ll get the headmaster!”

Headmaster? Blinking to get the haze out of his eyes, Arisu found himself in a medical bay; he was confused has to how he got there to begin with – part of him was telling him that he probably had an accident on his bike while on his daily summer ride, however one look outside showed gentle snowfall and suddenly he was coming to grips with a wide variety of conspiracy ideas that didn’t remotely made sense. He let his shoulders drop and tried forcing himself to calm down, he was certain the doctor would tell him what was going on. 

The doctor himself was tall and lanky with a rather long nose, short red hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, under the white lab coat he was a forest green suit with a pink ascot, grey pants and flat shoes with a bit of heel at them. He had kind blue eyes as he sat beside Arisu’s medical cot to check on his vitals; the good news was physically, Arisu would be okay – albeit, he would have a throbbing headache since according to eye witness; the force from the exploding cauldron threw Arisu into a desk and his head had hit aid desk with a terrible thud. However, the doctor couldn’t really say how his mental state was until he spoke to the boy.

“Arisu.” He watched as the boy turned his attention to him. “My name is Doctor Crane; do you know where you are?” a shake of the head. “You’re in the medical wing; we’re located in a school called Night Raven College, does that ring any bells for you?” another shake of the head. “Could you tell me what you remember?”

“I was riding my bike and enjoying what little summer I had left before I started school in the fall.” Arisu tried to move so he was sitting up, he winced in pain and the doctor had to gently stop him. “Where exactly is Night Raven College, I’ve never heard of it?”

This was troubling. “Night Raven College is a prestigious school that resides in a realm called Twisted Wonderland, that is where you are now; you came to this place through a gate that connected your home realm to this one. You arrived to this school on August 31st and began your student life on September 2nd, it’s now November 14th” he watched as the boy’s golden eyes widen in horror. Oh dear, this was not good at all. “Don’t worry, your family knows you’re here as a student!”

That didn’t really settle his nerves down at all. Arisu's heart was going a mile a minute, every answer the doctor gave him only made a thousand more questions form in his mind. In his mind a voice came to him. "I'm gonna teach you a special spell my old man taught me. You close your eyes tightly and make a fist. Think really hard and chant 'I'm okay! I'm okay!' until you see stars" the voice was accompanied by the mental image of a young boy with sleepy eyes and silvery hair. 

"I'm okay! I'm okay!" Arisu muttered to himself, squeezing his eyes shut and curling his hands into fists as he chanted the phrase over and over again. Slowly his breathing began to ease as white spots formed behind his eyelids like stars in the night sky. The blonde opened his eyes and let out a deep sigh. "This is a lot to take in Doc, can I have a moment to think?" he asked quietly.

Crane nodded. “Yeah, I have to talk to the teachers.” He stood up. “Take it ease, okay?” He watched as Arisu nodded. He smiled and walked out of the room.

In the waiting room, Doctor Crane was met with the sight of Divus talking with Dire about the situation and the aftermath; it was now Crane’s turn to let them know the extent of the damage to the boy’s memory. The good news was that Arisu’s memories of three months were the only ones missing – it wasn’t too bad, and given that this was a potion accident it wouldn’t be too hard to find a reversal to restore his memories. The bad news, however, while it was possible to help his memories out by showing him pictures or videos – he was easily overwhelmed and having a new face come in with the such to help, will cause a meltdown. Not only that, it would probably be best to do memory restoration at home until Divus could get the memory fix made.

That news led Divus, Crowley, and Crane to hold a school assembly to inform the students of what had happened. Reception didn’t go well and it took a lot of effort to keep certain students from rushing out of the meeting hall and barreling to Arisu’s room. It took a lot of time to settle the room down and to let them know of the plan; Arisu would be returning home with someone he would be familiar with – that limited the number down to his cousins; Idia and Ortho, and the Diasomnia quartet; Lilia, Malleus, Sebek, and Silver. It wasn’t an impressive number, but it was something they could work with. With the room being in reluctant agreement; Crane took the boys back to the medical bay and told them to be cautious with what they tell him, the last thing they needed was for him to be overwhelmed. The five agreed and walked into the room, only to find it empty. Dread had pooled in everyone’s heart; Arisu had left and was wandering around campus without so much of a shred of memory. He couldn’t have gotten far, the five students branched off and started running to search for their missing mortal companion.

As that was going on, Arisu was outside the old iron gate looking over to the dorm before him; a graveyard was in the back and the dorm looked untouched for years. A normal person would probably avoid going up to the old building in fear of ghosts that may lurk there, but Arisu pushed through like it was second nature for him and after going down the stone path and entering the threshold of the dorm itself he felt himself smiling – he couldn’t really place the reason, but he felt…safe here. Entering the foyer, he was greeted to a trio of ghosts appearing before him saying his name in a three-part harmony and ending with ‘Welcome back~’ he couldn’t stop himself from giggling and applauding them before asking how they knew his name (It was then that the ghosts realized the boy had lost his memories and reintroduced themselves to him; their names made Arisu laugh because of their meaning). Tea was made and Arisu was with the ghosts talking about a simple topic; theater, music, and more. It was mostly to keep the boy in one place while one of the ghosts went to get someone and let them know where the amnesiac was; and it worked, the five students were gathered and they rushed over to Ramshackle. The blonde’s eyes lit up a little bit when he saw them but then turned wary as he saw Malleus and Lilia, he was still courteous to them and stayed pleasant as to not want to be on the Faeries’ bad side. 

“Ari!” Ortho went up to him and hugged him. “You’re safe!”

“Of course, I am, why wouldn’t I be?” Arisu asked.

“You left the medical bay.” Idia approached him. “You had us worried that something happened; why did you leave?”

Arisu looked down a little. “I was told I went to school here; I was hoping if I walked around that memories would return.” He admitted softly.

Lilia carefully approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Sunflower, it’s okay…we’re here to help you along.” He fell quiet. “Well, one of us will be; you’re going to be returning to Sunnydale with us and someone will stay with you to help you regain your memories.”

“I was told I was in a potion accident…what happened?” Arisu asked. “I know you can’t lie, Lilia, but I want to hear the story from you.”

“Well, I wasn’t there.” Lilia started out. “But, I was told by the student you saved – it was a Diasomnia student, one of mine and Malleus’ students – He messed up on one of the ingredients and the cauldron started to sputter and more; you rushed over and shoved him out of the way before the cauldron ‘exploded’, the force from it knocked you into a desk where your head collided and knocked you out.” He explained. “Your friends came to your aid and brought you to the medical bay, Divus came soon after and helped Dr. Crane with your condition; you woke up some hours later and…well, here we are.”

Arisu just nodded quietly as he went to put the empty teacup into the sink and rinsed it out before returning to the group; after all was said and done it was agreed that the person staying would be Silver – he would at least be in an area with a bed should his narcolepsy kicks up and Arisu did see him as a good friend along with Sebek when they were growing up (before a coven member started to become a hawk whenever they or Lilia was around). After packing a small bag of personal belongings, he followed Silver to the Mirror Chamber where they used the Dark Mirror to return to Sunnydale. Going through a mirror was an odd way of travel, but it got the job done and the two made their way from the forest and to Castle Street where the familiar white two-story house with the green windowpanes stood. Arisu was home at last – at least until Master Crewel got something to restore memories made, until then, he would be here with Silver.

Entering the house, Arisu picked up Shiro and held him as he went upstairs to leave Silver to talk with his family; both parents were in understanding and were doing what they could to help out as well – even bringing up Halloween Night; the fun he had with his friends, the costumes, and whatever they could think of. It sounded weird that he had a huge group with him, but he just nodded and thought more of it; the memory was real but he couldn’t place a face or name to anyone just yet. Since then, he and Silver just sat by each other and went through some pictures together (courtesy of Idia and Rook, though, the latter had questionable ones mixed in to help). Silver did his best to tell him the story behind each of the pictures; and each story brought a tender smile to Arisu’s face from how he first met everyone to the lively fun they would have; croquet with Riddle that would end with cuddling the hedgehogs, Magical Shift practice with Leona, Ruggie, and Jack that would leave him on his back and tired out, movie nights with Grim as well as card games together – actually, Grim had the most stories with Arisu when it came to those two alone, and of course magic studies with Vil. There were more than what was said, but Silver backed off to let the information sink in as to not overflow the boy’s mind.

The first night between them was quiet, but by the next morning; Silver took Arisu on a walk where they would talk about the things they did growing up. Though the town was mostly the same, there were subtle changes – they assumed it was to please the Citidiots that would speed down the street every summer to get to the cabin; Sunnydale was a nice little town and while they did have some brand name stuff here and there, the charm was the local stuff (suppose one couldn’t really please anyone that they had to add more of the disgusting…well it wasn’t really gentrified since the new eatery was a bar setting (the food there sucked and the inside was hard on the eyes no thanks to the Edison lights) and the kicker with that place was no-one actually went there – not the people from the cities, not the locals, that place was setup to fail. It was a sad sight and Silver had made the offhand comment about asking the Young Master to burn it and get rid of it.

When they got to the park, they sat on the boat playset and let the autumn air grace them; they stayed in silence for a while before Silver spoke up to him. “Hey, Arisu?” he looked at him. “How are you feeling? I mean, after everything from yesterday and last night?”

Arisu looked at him and shrugged. “I’m not doubting claims of what happened, and I believe the legitimacy of the pictures.” He started out. “But…I feel like I’m hearing the memories of someone else instead of my own; I have the memories of when you and I were kids and our parents would take us to see the fireworks every Fourth of July and we’d play in the backyard with sparklers or whatever games.” He chuckled. “Of course, my aunt’s side only allowed it to happen because of the Rules of the Fae.”

“Let your child play with the Faeries they meet, but make sure they don’t go off with them.” Silver recited with a little laugh. “Your cousins always had you by their side during the afternoon while we would be with you during the mornings and evenings.” He smiled. “You always loved seeing the fireflies by Malleus – I’m still laughing that you didn’t recognize him at school.”

Arisu laughed and gently nudged him. “Shut up, a lot was going through my mind at the time…” he blinked. “Wait…”

“You remembered something?”

“Sort of, I remember I woke up one evening because something was bothering me – I don’t remember what it was, but something was bothering me and I needed to clear my mind. I was staring up at the stars when I saw Malleus – it’s like you said, I didn’t recognize him until I heard his name.” he shrugged. “It wasn’t much of a conversation; I just expressed my worry for him – again, I don’t know what it was…but I was worried.”

Silver smiled softly. “You were looking into the accidents of players for the Magical Shift tournament; Malleus was a target and you were looking out for him and others; you didn’t need to know them you just hopped on the first chance to help. I believe your words were ‘Do I need a reason to help someone in need?’”

“It’s actually ‘You don’t need a reason to help people’ and it’s not my words; it’s Zidane’s.” he smiled. “But yeah…I’ll help where I can.”

And this is why you have amnesia, are the words Silver so desperately wanted to say. “You have a good heart, Sunflower.” He smiled and held him close. “Arisu, as a child who grew up in the fold and learned the ways of the fae, I cannot lie either; You’re not cursed, never let anyone tell you otherwise.”

Arisu looked up at him and smiled. “Cursed or not, I find ways around it; I told someone else this that I manage, I’m not fragile.”

“I know you’re not.” He smiled. “I mean, you’re well-known for scrapping your knees whenever you slid on the bases back in your baseballs years.”

“Shush.” Arisu gently elbowed him. 

“It’s true! I lost count on the number of bandages you would have on your knees after every game!” Silver laughed. “We had to start making healing balm for your cuts!”

“It wasn’t _that_ bad!” Arisu cried. “So I got a little scraped up, it’s nothing serious!”

“You broke your arm on a mountain bike trail!” Silver pointed out. “You just got the new mountain bike and couldn’t figure out the breaks! Rest in peace first mountain bike, you will be missed.”

“Not my fault the trail had a sharp turn.”

“It wasn’t even that sharp!” 

“Still the trail’s fault, not mine.” Arisu huffed.

*  
Over the days the two were spending in Sunnydale; Lilia would come over with their homework of the day and worked alongside them to keep their grades up. Memories were still scattered but every little bit helped; pictures, retelling, videos (again, where is Rook getting these from?), and even visits from familiar faces – Grim was a frequent visitor whenever someone would drop by for an hour or two at the park. Arisu still kept feeling like he was hearing someone else’s memories but he still enjoyed hearing everything that happened; the good and the bad, to him, it helped paint a better picture of what had been happening at Night Raven College. When he and Silver weren’t focus on working on homework or visiting memory lane, they would be outside and enjoying the autumn air and playing some of the games they played when they were kids – just for the nostalgia of things.

But that was during their time of consciousness. During the night, however, Arisu had dreams of the things at Night Raven; it was as the retellings were but…they were more natural and more like they were his memories and not someone else’s – he figured it was because he was experiencing them himself rather than being told about them from a third-party. After nearly a week of the dreams happening, he told his family and Silver that he wanted to return to Night Raven; he didn’t have all his memories there yet and there hadn’t been word from Master Crewel about a successful potion, but…he just _had_ to return to the school. It was hard to explain, but it was his choice. There was some hesitation but Silver offered that if memories were starting to return then being in the halls might trigger the rest. It was a thought at least, and they agreed on the condition that if things get worse that Arisu was to return home and they go about the original treatment plan.

There were two entrances to the trail where the mirror laid in wait; the first was closer to the neighboring town of Grizzly Point (it was a small town like Sunnydale, and actually there was no town border to separate the two – some of the city people would jokingly call the towns ‘Sunnydale Point’ or ‘Grizzly-dale’ it was weird, but hey, whatever floated their boat); the other entrance was closer to the forest – that was the one Silver and Arisu took to get there.

Standing at the entrance, Arisu stopped in place and laid a hand on his heart; **“Heart, don’t fail me now. Courage, don’t desert me. Don’t turn back, now that we’re here.”** He looked up to see Silver waiting for him, he approached him and kept his head up. **“People always say, ‘life is full of choices’ no-one ever mentions fear…or how the world can seem so vast, on a journey to the past.”**

Silver took hold of his hand. “Arisu, Sunflower, we don’t have to do this if you’re not ready.”

“I am.” Arisu looked up at him. “I promise.” He then looked back to the trail. **“Somewhere down this road, I know someone’s waiting, days of dreams just can’t be wrong.”** He started down and held onto Silver as they walked the main path that was the asphalt trail and were now surrounded by the orange and yellow trees. Each step brought a flutter to his heart as they walked arm in arm. **“Arms will open wide, I’ll be safe and wanted – Finally back where I belong; well starting now I’m learning fast, on this journey to the past.”**

He couldn’t help but to smile at his friend’s reaction; even though Arisu had limited memories, the heart could never truly forget. Silver knew that Arisu won the heart of many (even if the blond was too oblivious to know this, he could only hope someone would just buck up and tell him on the spot – okay, he was the same, but Silver had a good reason in not confessing yet. He was just waiting for valentine’s day). Still, Arisu saw Night Raven College as his second home; his heart skipped at the thought that his dear friend could think that Twisted Wonderland was his second home as well! Silver’s own lilac eyes softened at the thought, it would make courting a lot easier and they wouldn’t have to worry about the covens interfering in the midst of things. 

Arisu had a silent chuckle; he was starting to remember the warm feelings that came with being around Silver and others in the strange school. **“Home, love, family; there was once a time I must have had them too.”** Living in a dorm was like living with distant family members you hardly know, right? And love came in a wide variety, he loved the strange friends like Silver and those that Silver told him about. **“Home, love, family; I will never be complete until I find you.”** He had to meet the group again; this time on their turf.

Further and further into the woods until they came upon the trail within in the trees they travel on. Arisu tightened his hold onto Silver and settled his nerves; with every step they took brought them closer and closer to the halls of Night Raven College, nerves were setting in but he didn’t want that to deter him from his goal; Silver looked down at him and return the squeeze.

 **“One step at a time, one hope then another; who knows where this road may go.”** Silver smiled softly at him.

Arisu looked up at him. **“Back to who I was, on to find my future; things my heart still needs to know.”** He turned and took the lead, with Silver behind him a few steps. **“Yes, let this be a sign! Let this road be mine, let it lead me to my past; and bring me home, at last!”**

Before them was the mirror that started it all. Arisu took a breath and took Silver’s hand into his again; the silent squeeze assured him that everything would be fine as they stepped through and returned to the world of Twisted Wonderland.

 *****  
  
Silver was nervous to say the least; he wanted to start out easy and decided the best course was to take him to Ramshackle where the ghosts were as well as Grim. The reception went as he predicted it would; Grim pounced and cuddled up to Arisu, purring along the way and a few more pieces of memories returned to him as he watched their banter. The same thing happened when Passe, Paron, and Futuro showed up and Arisu was quick in the memory lane again; turning their little ‘Barbershop Trio’ into a ‘Barbershop Quartet’ to which Grim would whine about it. It was the little fun Sunflower would have to get back at Grim whenever the tanuki did something that caused Arisu to roll his eyes and groan in displeasure.

Pleased with this, Silver smiled and led him through main street and into the courtyard; he was listening whenever Arisu would point out some areas and bring up some memories (Some, back when they were by the statues of the Great Seven he pointed out how he got into a dispute about them with a student; Silver had a hard time keeping a straight face at that). When it got to the other dorms; it was anarchy. While at the dining hall; Arisu was before his friends from Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw, and Pomefiore; there were two others – Kalim and Jamil one being from the music club that Arisu was a part of for a short while and Jamil was beside him for whatever reason. It was a little weird being with them, but the group was patient and helped him fill the gaps of his memory and even corrected him on a few things. Recovery was happening and it was showing with each passing conversation; everything started out fine before the Octavinelle Trio caught wind of what was happening in the room and decided to make their appearance known.

“Damselfish!” Floyd hugged him from behind. “You’re doing better! Now you can fulfill your promise to us!”

“Promise?” Arisu repeated.

Floyd grinned at him. “You were going to honor Jade, Azul, and I a date on the town.” He leaned close. “We’re an item, the four of us are.”

Arisu furrowed his brows, he didn’t remember being in a relationship yet. Of course, he could hardly remember anything right now but the principle of the matter still stood. Before he could say anything, he'd been scooped up by one of the twins and was being carried off. He heard the sound of scuffling and someone protesting while the smell of ink filled the air.

Jack spat out the ink that had gone in his mouth when Azul had spewed out the gunk like a squirt gun. He'd gotten up to try and intercept the octo-trio's kidnap attempt of Ari and this was all he had to show for it. He tried to wipe off the ink in his hair and fur onto his jacket sleeve only for the stuff to smudge on his skin and more of his hair. The group was hardly phased on the outside, but inside they were seething. Slowly Riddle stood up and led the charge with Vil over to the Octavinelle dorm; this was going to be a long afternoon.

At the dorm; Arisu was brought to the Monstro lounge and Azul moved close to him and presented pictures of his own; one look at them and he just stared blankly at them; had he not seen the originals he probably would have believed the ones before him, but he knew these were photoshopped to some degree. He set them down and sighed in slight annoyance at them.

“I may be an amnesiac, but I’m not stupid.” He said. “I know these are photoshopped.”

"I know you aren’t stupid Angelfish, that’s why I wanted to show these to you. These aren't photoshopped, but the versions your so-called friends showed you were" Azul said with a smirk pushing up his glasses. "You see, your zealous court of cards and den of beasts don't hold a very high opinion of your relationship with us. So, they sought to use this opportunity of you losing your memory to try and break us up" he added with a smooth purr to his voice.

Arisu opened his mouth to answer with confidence, but he faltered. He couldn’t deny that some of his friends, as they claimed to be, were acting rather shifty. In particular the dorm heads were always gazing at him with an uncomfortable longing in their eyes. He'd also been having daydreams of being choked with vines intermitted with having claws digging into his chest. He was becoming less sure of what was real and what was fake. So perhaps these three were telling him the truth after all.

“But Silver would never lie to me.” Arisu said softly. “He’s unable to lie.”

Azul took his hand into his. “He may have grown up with the faerie folk, but he’s still human.” He reminded. “Faeries may not lie, but humans do.”

“He’s still my friend and he’s been trying to help me.”

“And you don’t think he’s just doing that for Lilia so you and the Prince of Thorns wed?”

He wouldn’t do that! Arisu grew up with Silver, he knew him when they were kids – okay, yeah, their interactions were limited to a few hours in the morning and a few hours at night before bed, but they still knew each other well enough. Arisu bit the inside of his cheek to keep from speaking out, whoever this silver-haired student was he was just going to twist the narrative again. Arisu trusted his friend, for now it was probably best to just go along with this and hope that Silver did show up for him. Taking his silence as compliance, Azul gently pulled him close and held him in his arms assuring him that everything would be okay.

"Alright, let’s say I believe you and that you're telling the truth and my friends have been trying to alter my opinion" Arisu said slowly. "What do you want from me right now then?" he added and looked at Azul expectantly. 

"Why I would expect you to honor your word and go on a date with myself and the twins of course. What better way to celebrate the recovery you've already made then with an afternoon out on the town?" Azul replied cheerily, he stood up and helped him up. “Come, we have a wonderful selection in the VIP Lounge.” He smiled and nodded to the twins; “It’s your favorite; lobster bisque as our starting dish, garlic pasta as the main, and strawberry brownies for dessert.”

Arisu’s eyes widened a little. “Wait…how do you know my favorites?”

Jade walked up and held his hand in his. “As Floyd and Azul told you, we’re an item – the four of us, how could we _not_ know our darling’s favorite food?”

“I doubt I’ve told you that.” Arisu shook his head. “I mean, okay I can see where you might’ve gotten lucky because according to Silver, I’ve visited your lounge the one time.”

“Then let’s try this.” Azul offered; “You’ll ask us anything about you – personal stuff that only those close to you would know; if we get say…five of the questions correct, then it’ll be proof enough that we’re telling you the truth about our relationship.” He took Floyd by the shoulder and led him out. “We’ll give you time to think of some questions, ah and before I forget; Out of the three of us, you and Jade aren’t that close so think of this as a trial run between you two – get to know each other better.” 

That was the last he saw Azul and Floyd before he was left in a quiet office space with Jade; the time between them was a little awkward especially with how Jade would word certain questions and Arisu would have no trouble blurting out the answers. Whenever he would try dwelling on the topic, Jade would bring his attention back to him and they would continue where they left off Q&A wise. When they weren’t talking about him, they were just enjoying the company of each other and having small talk here and there; Jade was showing concern about his wellbeing and that was a plus, asking if his memories were coming back all at once or if it was just in bits and pieces along the way – things were coming back at random, but Arisu was expressing he hoped the memory potion would be completed soon.

When Azul and Floyd had returned Arisu had his questions lined up; he started with the simple stuff like what his pet rabbit’s name was, his mother’s maiden name, and who his favorite actor was; both Azul and Floyd got the questions right without batting an eyelash. After a while of silence, he decided to hit them with something only people _really_ close to him would know – this was going to be embarrassing to bring up, but it had to be done.

“How old was I when I stopped using a nightlight, and why did I have one to begin with?” Arisu asked softly.

Floyd hummed a little in thought. “You had a babysitter who decided that it would be a great idea to show you Nightmare on Elm Street and you were afraid to go to bed mostly.”

“Lasted until you were thirteen.” Azul finished. “Of course, there were still nights you had to have it on because of repressed memories of the film resurfacing but those were far and few in between.”

Arisu let out a sigh of annoyance, they'd managed to answer all his questions perfectly. Almost too perfectly if he was being honest, like they'd gone into his mind and cherrypicked the information from him. But he couldn't think of a way to bring that up without sounding accusing. So, he conceded the matter, almost he'd throw one more thing at them without warning.

"Alright, alright you answered everything right so far but I get one more question. What was my first word?" he said trying to sound innocent. He hoped that if they were using magic to get the answers that this would trip them up as he didn’t know the answer to this.

"Now, angelfish that’s not a fair question, what your first word was and what people tell you it was can be entirely different things. What did people say your first word was?" Jade said smoothly. 

Arisu tried to bite his tongue and not answer but he couldn't help but say "My mom says I said dada first" in response to Jade's question. 

"And was that your actual first word?" Jade added causally.

"No, it wasn't, my first word was Riri" Ari responded to his own surprise and stared at Jade bug-eyed. "You cheated! You used magic and cheated!" he said his tone accusing. 

"Did I or did you just regain a lost memory?" Jade said with a smirk.

Arisu rolled his eyes and folded his arms but resigned himself to his defeat. Azul just chuckled at the sight of it and played with the boy’s golden locks with a smile on his face, Arisu tuned out what he was saying and only reacted when he felt the other kiss him on the forehead. He couldn’t really place it, but something about that kiss awoken something inside him; he was remembering some things that hadn’t been told to him – he knew from Silver that he visited the Monstro Lounge, but he never told him that the first meeting of the Octavinelle Trio was witnessing their shady business at work. Then again, another memory that showed up was of the two overblots that had happened; those memories alone were enough to get him to bolt out of the chair and rush out of the lounge.

Floyd grabbed his hand and demanded to know where he was going; Arisu just looked up at him with a mix of a pissed off expression and a pained one. He pulled away from the twin and slapped him before leaving, saying he was going to make sure that his _real_ friends were doing alright and that he wasn’t going to forgive them for this gaslighting stunt.

Once he got away from the trio, he rushed out of the dorm and swam to the mirror that brought him to the Hall of Mirrors, from there he didn’t care where he went, he just had to find the group. It didn’t take long for that to happen, he barreled right into them; everyone was on the ground trying to untangle themselves after the blond knocked into them with Idia and Ortho being the first two out of the group, they helped their cousin up and Arisu began to ask if the stories Silver and the others were true or not; Idia had confirmed they were and even confirmed that the Octavinvelle’s side were the lies. Arisu sighed in relief, he knew that was the case but he wanted to be sure; even more so when he brought up the question and answer round with them that Ortho brought up that Jade’s unique magic forced the truth out of people and they used his answers against him like that. Well, now he knew which twin to look out for when he got his memories back for good. 

The moment everything started to settle down; making sure Arisu was doing alright, was when they decided to make their ways over to the alchemy room – hoping that Master Crewel finished the potion. He did, and he was about to summon for the group when they showed up, talk about timing (now if only some of these pups would make it to class on time). Though the potion was finished and ready to down; there was one nasty side-effect, splitting headaches; it was advised that Arisu went to bed immediately after drinking it, he would be in for a rough night. While this was great news, there was a small part of the blond that was nervous about taking it; he was certain there were some memories of school that he didn’t want to remember but…he didn’t want to stay in this amnesiac state for others to take advantage of him. 

Smiling, he let Silver escort him to Ramshackle where he would have a bed to lay on and where he would be able to awaken in a familiar room. He gave his friend a tight hug before pulling back and drinking the memory revival potion, nothing happened for the first few minutes but that changed the second he started clutching his head and trying to hide in the covers. It was as Master Crewel had said, he was in for a rough night; and Silver was going to be there to help him along the way.

*****

When he came to, Arisu was greeted to some familiar faces by the bed; Orto was sitting beside the bed smiling down at him, Idia and Silver were sleeping on the inflatable mattress and Grim was sitting on Arisu’s chest looking down at him. 

“Ari!” Grim moved and started to rub against his chin. “You’re awake!” he pulled back. “Do you remember me?”

“How could I forget the tanuki that almost lit me on fire at the Welcome Ceremony?” Arisu chuckled. “It’s great to see you too, Grim.” 

“Come on, get out of bed; everyone’s here to throw you a welcome back party!” Ortho took Arisu’s hand and gave a gentle tug.

Arisu smiled and moved Grim off him before getting up; they decided to let the sleeping duo rest before going downstairs where everyone was with a banner that said ‘Welcome Back Alice’ and on the tables were a wide variety of food and gifts that were going to be ‘get well soon’ gifts. Amnesia from helping a student in a crisis; just another day in Night Raven College.

“Hey, Alice.” Cater pulled him close and grinned. “You know; today is the 20th, in three days it’ll be your birthday! We have to celebrate at Heartslabyul!”

“Like fuck you are.” Leona growled. “He’s going to be at Savannaclaw.”

“The lion is putting words in my mouth again.” Arisu crossed his arms. “We’re not fighting over me; we’ll celebrate in the dining hall if we have to.”

“But it won’t be as fancy!” Grim whined.

“Enough!” Vil snapped. “Let me handle the venue; everyone else…do whatever you wish.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Buy presents, get food made, whatever will keep you potatoes busy.”

Everyone just stared but just silently agreed to Vil’s terms, they would worry about that later; they had a mortal to be around and welcome back with open arms.


	27. Soft Plot 7: Birthday Pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A'right, here's what's going to happen: I can't keep stalling. After this, I will be starting to play the Scarabia Arc, I maxed out my boys' levels and...yeah...
> 
> So; for now, here's part 1 of the birthday celebration with Arisu then we'll go to Scarabia. After Scarabai and Pomefiore; we'll do whatever the heck we want because reasons.
> 
> Song: Solamente Una Vez/You Belong to My Heart

-Celebrating with Grim-

Waking up to the sun gracing down on him was the best feeling he could hope for. Arisu was up earlier than he usually was and was in high spirits for a lot of reasons; no strange dreams, homework was all caught up, he had his memories back, and the best part was that it was his birthday! There were more that was going on in his mind, but he figured to set that on the back burner and decided to take today by the reins and never let go. Throwing off the covers, Arisu got up and changed into his school uniform before going over to wake Grim up; to his surprise, the strange creature wasn’t in his cat bed. Strange, Grim was usually a late sleeper unless something happened – usually when the ghostly trio were pranking him awake. Shaking his head, he made his way downstairs when Futuro had stopped him in the hall leading to the stairs; Arisu took a step back and greeted him a good morning.

“Good morning, and happy birthday!” Futuro shook his hand. “Now that you’re a year older, you’re one year closer to the grave and we can finally have our quartet!”

Arisu laughed. “You still have a long wait ahead of you, Futuro, because right now I have exciting news to share about my birthday; now that I’m sixteen, I’ll be able to take driver’s ed and I’ll be one step closer to owning a Cadillac of my own!”

“A fine choice for a first car.” He ruffled his hair. “What are you plans for today?”

There was a small shrug as the reply; “I mean, back in Sunnydale, birthdays with me was always held at our local bowling alley where the menu was pizza, BBQ wings, and cupcakes.”

“You don’t live an exciting life, do you?” Futuro teased. “Sometimes the simple life is the better life.” He went downstairs with Arisu beside him.

A small grin graced Arisu’s face as they made it to the ground floor and went straight to the lounge where Grim was sitting on the table and members of the bike club sitting behind him; two members (Scarabia students) were holding a banner that said Happy Birthday, another two members (One Pomefiore and one Savannaclaw) set off party-poppers that went off and set streamers flying and the final two members (both Heartslabyul students) held up two bottles of soda. Grim had a victorious grin on his face and proudly proclaimed that this was going to be their party; they would head to the school store to get chips and snacks and then play card and boardgames all night – maybe some rounds of Just Dance to party off the sweets. Arisu laughed and smiled at the gesture and thanked Grim for the small party – of course, he was curious as to why it was just the bike club here and not their usual group; Grim just flattened his ears and just said ‘Bike Club only!’ he decided to let the topic drop after that.

“Well, in any case, open your present!” Grim pushed the box up to him. “I worked really hard on it!”

A small chuckle. “Okay, okay.” He picked the small box up and undid the ribbon that kept it closed. “Let’s see what the Great Grim got me.” He took out a can. “Tuna, I see someone was thinking about my heart health – gotta get that omega 3 in me.” He watched as Grim puffed his chest out. Arisu smiled and set the can aside, he looked in the box and felt his eyes widen. “Grim…is this…” he picked up a familiar ribbon with the gem as the center.

“Just don’t wear that around school today, I need to talk to the headmaster about a new gem.” Grim had a sheepish grin on him. “So uh…put that in your pocket and keep quiet.” 

Arisu couldn’t help but to laugh, he picked Grim up and held him close in a brief hug. “Thanks.” He set him down and looked at the group. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go get our treats and celebrate already!”

The group started out on the way to the school store; before they could get their respective celebration items, Arisu was getting ready to face off against Sam – he had his doubts that this man sold everything under the sun and would try to catch him off guard, so far the score was still in Sam’s favor but today Arisu was confident in what he was going to ask – it was guaranteed to be impossible even for the strange shop keeper. His team just shook their heads at the idea, they had tried so many times in the past that they weren’t entirely confident about Arisu’s plan.

Once at the store; Sam was honed in on Arisu with a smirk on his face, the moment he uttered the phrase ‘How can I help you, lost lamb’ was when Arisu spoke up; a book in a series he was reading came out in February, there was no way Sam could have it this early. The smirk grew as Sam went to the back of the shop and came back with the book in question, causing the boy to falter at the sight of it; he tried again with his dream car, year and everything – once again, Sam would come back and drop the keys to the car before him and point outside to where the car in question was. One final try, there was no way Sam could have a driver’s license with Arisu’s information on it – he did. After all, one could thank his friends on the other side.

“Want to try again, birthday boy?” Sam asked.

“…We’ll just take our snacks, please.” Arisu muttered under his breath.

“Do you still want your three items as well?”

“I’m pretty certain me driving with a license from a questionable source is illegal.” 

Sam placed a finger by his lips. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

After weighing the pros and cons to the whole ordeal; Arisu just agreed to buying the car, license, and the book before taking the group out of the shop with their snacks. Twisted Wonderland had odd rules, he wasn’t going to question or argue against it and since it was his birthday; he was going to drive everyone back to the Ramshackle Dorm. He could see the pissed off expressions of the teachers as he drove them – and thanking every god out there that most of the other students weren’t out and about, this would be awkward to explain.

With the car in park and the small group returning inside the dorm; Arisu was just able to relax as they got the little party started; they did as they planned with the games and chips, having a karaoke session with the ghosts and reenacting movie scenes (the Scarabia student decided to reenact the scene from the Joker with the stairs leading up to the dorm rooms and that caused everyone to lose it to the point of soda coming from someone’s nose.) At the end of the party, Arisu saw them off and made sure they got to their dorms safely before he returned to his dorm and went upstairs with Grim. The strange cat creature jumped onto the bed and made himself comfortable on the pillow as he watched Arisu getting ready for bed.

“Did you have fun?” Grim asked

Arisu smiled and kicked his shoes off and carelessly threw his uniform to a chair. “I did.” He smiled. “Thank you for today, Grim; and thank you for the gifts.”

“For you, my stupid human, anything.”

Arisu laughed and laid down on the bed with him. “Just for tonight, you get to share the bed with me; but you’re returning to your heated cat bed tomorrow.”

“Jokes on you, I’ve been sneaking into your bed since we got here.” Grim snickered.

A small roll of the eyes; “Good night, Tanuki.”

Grim just growled. “Just for tonight, you can call me that; but when midnight hits, you’re to call me the Great Grim!”

“Whatever you say, tanuki.” Arisu smiled. “Thank you again.”

Grim purred and curled up by him. “Happy Birthday, Ari.” He said before dozing off beside him.

-Celebrating with Ace-

Lazy days were the best. They were even better when you were sitting with a furry companion watching the snow fall and relaxing by the fireplace with a book in hand; it felt like a cheesy opening to some anthology film with the setup, not that he minded in the slightest. Arisu was enjoying the book he got from the library – who would have thought that Stine made his way to another realm? Whatever, he was just enjoying the fact that he could read the Fear Street books without any interruptions; Grim was watching the snow with intensity (though, Arisu was certain that his companion was watching the winter birds that were still flying around), the ghosts were playing a round of Magical Shift in the snow, everything was perfect.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALICE!”

Arisu nearly dropped his book when Ace’s sudden voice rang in the dorm. So much for a quiet way to celebrate his birthday; he wasn’t much for a huge celebration, he preferred to keep things simple (heck, his birthday tradition was always going to the local bowling alley; his mother’s birthday tradition was visiting a Mexican restaurant, and his dad preferred a good ol’ fashion barbeque in the backyard; his family weren’t entirely the most exciting when it came to parties and he was actually fine with that). Knowing he wasn’t going to get any solace today; he closed the book he was reading and set it aside before turning to where Ace was.

“Hello to you too, Ace.” Arisu smiled. “And thanks for the birthday wishes.”

Ace grinned and pulled him close. “That’s not all I come bringing; I have a gift for you!”

Grim trotted over and looked up at him. “What is it?”

“I’m glad you asked, Tanuki.” Ace’s grin grew. “Behold!” he took out an envelope and showed two tickets. “We’re going to be spending all night at Looking Glass Arena, and as a bonus – and I mean it when I say, do not tell Prefect Rosehearts about this, but…” he took out two cards from the envelope as well. “Call it a little bonus.”

Arisu raised an eyebrow until he got a better look at the two cards hidden with the tickets; they were false identifications labeling them older than their actual age. He was actually afraid to ask Ace where he got them to begin with, still…it was his birthday, shouldn’t he live a little and be just a tad rebellious – what the hell was he thinking? That was a bad idea in every sense of the word.

“Alice, please…it’s just one night and we can get a designated driver if you’re that worried.” Ace nodded to the door. “I saw the Cadillac on my way in, did you seriously ask Sam if he had one?”

Arisu shook his head. “He also gave me a driver’s license to go with it…let’s pretend I agree to the night of booze, how are we getting the car to the Dark Mirror?”

“I had to sell my soul to your cousin; do you realize how hard it was to get ‘I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream’? that game isn’t easy to get, Arisu, that was the price I had to pay to get the false ID’s and a shrinking spell to smuggle anything to the Mirror Chamber!”

Talk about some serious dedication, Arisu actually felt his heart skip a beat when he heard about how far Ace was willing to go to give him an exciting birthday experience. He smiled and let his shoulders drop before turning to Grim and asking if he wanted to hang out at Heartslabyul while he and Ace were out celebrating, naturally the strange creature agreed and even started bragging about how he was going to stay at a fancy dorm while Arisu was off doing whatever at the arena. Ace filled in that it was actually a skating arena – roller skating. Grim just asked for video of the party between them (he had his beliefs that one of them was going to be a stumbling mess) and they said that they would. 

Grabbing his coat, the car keys, and getting his shoes on; Arisu picked Grim up and told Ace he would meet him in the mirror chamber while he dropped their furry friend at Heartslabyul. Ace waved him off and went to where the car was parked, he took his pen out and the spell out of his pocket before casting it on the car – a shrinking spell; he was successful on the first try and picked the small car up and placed it into his pocket before making his way to the mirror chamber where he would be meeting with Arisu. The blond was there waiting for him, he smiled and took his place beside Ace as they stood before the mirror;

**{Magic Mirror on the wall; to the Rose Kingdom, take us all.}**

If a citizen of the Rose Kingdom had to describe it to a visitor, they would mostly say that the kingdom itself was something straight out of the Victorian era but with a few modern twists. The shops and homes on the outside remind people of the old times in the 19th century, but step foot inside any shop and be marveled at the way the past and future exist next to each other, instead of clashing. 

Whoever made the streets of the Rose Kingdom was nothing short of a genius. The road and sidewalks were smooth grey stones, joined with such precision that the joins were almost invisible. But the people of the Rose Kingdom, were able to tell which was each thanks to the Rose emblem that shined. It was said to be carved by hand. The flower that the kingdom was named after gleamed the purest shade of ruby red on the roads and sidewalks. 

The actual flower itself could be found in the window sill outside many homes, in the windows of many shops, settled nicely in tasteful vases on the table of outside cafes. It was all around. 

But for the citizens of the Rose Kingdom, the building that gave them the most pride and the most joy was the castle where their beloved Queen of Hearts once resided. The way the sun shined down on it, revealing the pure black iron gates. The sparkling windows. The roses that were planted in the front garden. It was a work of art.

Arisu was speechless when he saw the kingdom before him covered in snow, he was so ready to rush out and explore where he could before Ace gently pulled him back. Ace understood the boy’s excitement and told him they were going to drive – he did smuggle the new car over after all. Taking the car out of his pocket and setting it down before casting the spell to bring it back to normal size, he waited for Arisu to unlock it and to start it up so they could drive out to the arena. Ace had to be the one to drive so his friend could take in the kingdom to his fullest; he wasn’t that reckless to have a distracted driver at the wheel. As he took his friend around town for the scenic route to the arena, he made sure to drive by his house and point out to where he lived – big enough for a family of four, but small enough to not want to show off. He had a modest life and was okay with that; the house was decked out in Christmas lights and he could see his older brother help his mother set up the decorations outside, he stopped the car and honked at them before rolling down the windows and calling out a ‘hi’ to them. They asked what brought the visit and he just told them he was taking his friend to the Looking Glass Arena for his birthday; though brief, Arisu was glad to have met the family.

Upon arriving at the arena, Ace presented the tickets and ID showing they were here for the Glow Party and the ‘Adult Night’. They had hours before the events had happened and they were fine with just killing time at the arcade and skating for fun; Arisu was a little shaky at the start but after a few rounds around, the two were in sync (of course, they had rollerblades instead of skates) and were by each other’s side under the disco ball above them and moving to classic music from the 40’s to early 90’s; laughing and sometimes even dancing depending on the song (Arisu was singing along to David Bowie and Ace was doing his best to mimic Elvis Presley’s hip shakes). When they weren’t skating around, they would hang out at the arcade and playing a few games to win some prizes here and there before they would go to the small dining area for a pizza break.

Time certainly flies when one was having fun; the glow party started and they were on the floor decked out in glowsticks and enjoying the blacklights as they skated the night away; there was even a limbo game to be had and they definitely participated in that – Arisu won that to Ace’s surprise; the bow was able to skate and lower himself down to near floor level with ease. The prize was a free pizza and soda. When the adult party came the music would shift to some of the more couple-oriented songs, lovers would be close by as they skated to the melody; songs like the one that was playing at the moment that caused the Heartslabyul boy to take Arisu to the center where they skated and danced to the rhythm.

**Only once**   
**I loved in my life,**   
**Only once**   
**and nothing more.**

**One time, nothing more, in my garden**   
**Shone the hope,**   
**The hope that lights the road**   
**Of my loneliness.**

Ace held Arisu close to him as they swayed to the song, they two were lost in each other’s embrace as they skated slow enough to avoid falling as they danced. Arisu couldn’t really tell if it was the effect of the cocktail drink that he had earlier but, something about being in Ace’s arms brought warmth to his heart. Ace was feeling the same as he rested his chin gently on the boy’s golden locks – the sweet smell of the rosemary radiated from him, he had to thank Vil for gifting the boy that stuff during the modeling stunts.

**‘Twas a moment like this**   
**Do you remember**   
**And your eyes threw a kiss**   
**When they met mine**

**Now we own all the stars**   
**And a million guitars are still playing**   
**Darling, you are the song**   
**And you’ll always belong to my heart.**

*****  
It was around three in the morning when they came back to Night Raven College and under normal circumstances, walking around the darkened halls was creepy as hell, but the two were just silently giggling and enjoying each other’s company as they made their way to the hall of mirrors to return to Heartslabyul. While it may be passed curfew, they were still going in silently so they could collect Grim and get Arisu to return to Ramshackle and pray to every deity they could think of that Riddle was fast asleep. 

Crossing the threshold of the dorm, Ace quietly led Arisu in. All was going well; the dorm was silent as a mouse and Grim was sitting on the table in the lounge waiting for them – and was wearing a familiar collar.

“And _where_ exactly have you two been?” asked a familiar cold voice. The lights flicked on and Riddle was seen sitting before them, legs crossed and arms folded, he had a calm expression on his face to mask the burning rage inside. “Well?”

Ace paled. “P-Prefect Rosehearts, what a surprise, we were just-”

“Returning to the dorm far past curfew.” Riddle snapped. “There had better be a good reason for this, Trappola, or it’s off with your head!”

Arisu got between them; “Prefect Rosehearts, please don’t be upset with him.” He swallowed his breath. “We didn’t expect that the birthday celebration between us would last this long, he was trying to make tonight memorable for me.”

Though it didn’t look like it, Riddle’s gaze did indeed soften a little. “I suppose that’s a reason why you would be out late…But that’s no excuse, Ace knew better; by breaking the cordial rule of the Queen Hearts; Rule Number One; Always be on Time, he is therefor breaking the rules of this dorm.” He got his pen out and aimed it at Ace. **{OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!}** With the collar locked in place, Riddle pointed to the halls behind; “Now off to bed with you, starting tomorrow you’re on both flamingo and hedgehog duty for a week – and don’t think this is an excuse to slack off on your homework, is that clear?!”

“Yes, Dorm Master!” Ace cried as he hurried off.

Waiting until he was out of sight and earshot, Riddle turned to Arisu and smiled softly at him. “Happy Birthday, Arisu.” He took his hand into his and kissed it. “I hope you had a good time – even if its broke tons of rules.”

Arisu smiled back, “I did, and we’re sorry for being out so late.”

“Head on back to your dorm, I have some final words with your furry friend” 

Riddle watched as his friend went off before turning to Grim with a grin, the fire-cat looked up at him with a similar grin on his face as Riddle petted his head. 

“Thank you, Grim.” He smiled. “I’ll remove the collar tomorrow.”

Grim snickered. “He deserved it for not bringing the Mighty Grim with him and Arisu!” 

“That he did.” Riddle agreed. “Now, hurry along to your human.”


	28. A Whole New World in Scarabia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a while, I regret nothing :D
> 
> Song: A Whole New World

_From rose mazes to the savanna; and now from the ocean to the desert. On the one hand; the change in weather was welcomed, on the other hand he was starting to find these dreams to be tedious. He was fine with them since they didn’t disrupt sleep but…at the same time they were deeply concerning him and wanted nothing more to do with them. His thoughts on the situation changed when he heard horses nearby, following the sound he came upon two figures talking about something; the taller was scolding the smaller person before they followed after a gold stream of light. Like everything else, Arisu followed them and the light – logically the horses would be long gone as he tried to catch up to them, but with each step as he ran, he felt like he was on air and was catching up in a way he couldn’t understand. Well, this would be surprising if he wasn’t breathing underwater just fine when he was staying with Octavinelle’s mafia leaders; so maybe he achieved super speed in the dream world now._

_The group stopped and the sand dune had two glowing eyes before taking the form of a tiger’s head; **“Who disturbs my slumber?”** it demanded. The smaller person was shoved before the tiger, when they introduced themselves the Tiger warned them that only the Diamond in the Rough could enter; not heeding the warning, the person stepped into the mouth of the tiger and met a grisly end. They were buried alive._

Arisu woke up with a groan; that certainly had escalated, unlike the past that would build up to tension, this one jumped right into the grisly details. With a tired sigh, he grabbed his phone and looked at the date; fatigue left him and a wave of excitement graced him, he threw the covers off and hurried over to his small work station on the desk. It took some time, but he finally got the gifts for the friends he had made here at Night Raven College; even though most everyone would be going home for the holiday break, Arisu couldn’t help but to smile at the thought that this was his first time celebrating with everyone. Cater had sent an invite to everyone (including Malleus) for a pajama party on a video call sometime around the 24th or 25th; Arisu had done something similar except they were all going to the Afterglow for a potluck – this confused a lot of people, but Arisu just grinned and said to show up with a dish from home (that kept raising more questions, but eventually the group dropped it since it looked like Che’nya was giving him lessons on how to be cryptic)

Tightening the ribbon around the final gift, Arisu smiled at his hard work; Christmas break was around the corner and he wanted to make sure his friends had something amazing to open when they got home – okay, he did have to sell his soul to his cousin and ended up hunting down the controversial game Rule of Rose for him (it wasn’t easy) but in the end, Idia had come through and helped him in getting everything alongside with Ortho. All he had to do was to deliver the gifts to their respective recipients; starting with his furry roommate; making his way downstairs to the kitchen where Grim was talking with the ghosts about the break and flattening his ears when it got to the topic of family, Arisu tapped his back and smiled at him before handing a gift to him.

Grim ignored it, saying something about how he was probably going to be stuck at the school alone for the break while Arisu was having some feast back home with his family. Arisu just looked at him and said ‘What do you mean? You’re coming with me, you’re my partner, aren’t you?’ that was enough for Grim to change from a moody state into a cheerful one, he pounced and started rubbing under the boy’s chin, causing him to laugh. Arisu had to set him down so he could open his present; he was greeted to a small sweater that was a dark green and had neat writing stitched on saying ‘I’m on the Naughty List!’ he stared before laughing and putting it, claiming it was the best gift he’d received from a mere mortal. Arisu petted him and wished the ghosts a ‘happy holidays’ since they were going off to see families as well, with all said and done, he went to the lounge and took the wagon out with him to start handing out gifts. They started off with Diasomnia and handed the presents to the quartet; Malleus with a Furby, Silver with a handmade quilt, and a Christmas card for Lilia and Sebek – they were appreciative of it and thanked him, saying that they would bring their gifts over to Sunnydale when they show up for Christmas Day (Damn be the covens, Lilia was going to show up with the family.)

Pomefiore was next and luck had to be shining on him, Arisu had caught Vil as he was making sure everyone was packed; he was giving the dorm’s farewell speech and told everyone to stay healthy and to take proper care of themselves – just because it was the break, it wasn’t an excuse to be lazy. Arisu smiled and waited until the students started to file out before he could catch Epel and hand him his present; the fellow first-year smiled and hugged him before grabbing something from his bag and teasing him ‘Don’t open until Christmas’ he would warn. Arisu laughed and put the small present into his bag before going up to Vil and Rook and handing them their presents. Vil smiled and patted his head, Rook just kissed his cheek in thanks and wished him well. Even though Arisu wasn’t entirely close to Kalim, he still saw him as a friend and stopped at Scarabia for a brief moment to drop his gift off; it wasn’t much, but he remembered that the prefect kept hijacking his ipod and made a note to comment on the songs he enjoyed – so he made a mix CD for him; the two hugged and parted ways for Arisu to head over to the Octavinelle Dorm.

He was pounced on in an instant when he stepped through the threshold of the lounge; Floyd had picked him up and held him close; it was an awkward exchange; but after everything they’ve been through together, Arisu decided to get them something simple. When asked what they were planning to do; the trio said they were going to stay at the school, but they were going to see friends and their students off at the Mirror Chamber to make sure everyone got home safely. Turned out even the mafia had a heart. Arisu just smiled at that and wished them well – and promised pictures of Sunnydale for them (they would have begged to go home with him, but when they learned about how cold it got there – Minnesota boy – they immediately backed off; cold weather was their kryptonite).

Savannaclaw was somewhat similar when it came to delivering gifts; of course, with Ruggie’s gift, Arisu had to get Leona’s help on this and surprisingly the dorm head went along with it. The end result when Ruggie saw the contents of the card he was laughing so hard (After learning from Rook, he knew the hyena boy was actually excited this time) and it took a while to calm down before he hugged him and ruffled his hair. Jack was silent and humble in his thanks and Leona started out with a grin until he saw Arisu with two other gifts for him – correction, for his brother and Cheka. This kid and his damn kind heart.

The final dorm was Heartslabyul and Arisu was quick to give his friends his gifts and hand written cards for the rest of the dorm (it was a miracle how he pulled that off); he smiled and talked with everyone as he made his way to the prefect’s room, Riddle was sitting on the bed as the blond came in, suitcase by his legs and Trey sitting beside him with Che’nya keeping him steady. This was the moment of truth; they were going to put the plan into action, it wasn’t the first plan in mind, but they were going to go with this. Sometime after Riddle had accepted Arisu (during and after those therapy sessions) they had agreed to ask Arisu about going with contingency plan 13 (the group refused to use letters, it would just imply that they had 26 plans); take Riddle over to Sunnydale for the duration of breaks. Was it running away? Probably, but at this point hardly any of the trio cared; they weren’t going to let Riddle in that gilded cage again – and with a carefully crafted lie, his mother won’t suspect a damn thing…hopefully.

“Hey guys.” Arisu greeted softly. “How are things here?”

“Things could be better, Alice.” Che’nya said. “Nerves are at a new height; and despite me assuring these two that your parents are fine with this arrangement, Riddle’s still looking at everything that could go wrong.” He ignored the look Riddle shot him.

Arisu nodded and smiled. “I don’t even have a MagiCam account so she wouldn’t be able to track us like that.” He started off. “Plus, I believe when it comes to visiting other realms one must abide by the rules of said realm; so, she can’t really storm into Sunnydale unless she wants to face consequences. Then there’s my mother who…well, the short version is get your will written out when going up against her.”

Che’nya looked at Riddle. “See? You’re going to be fine.”

Trey had a small nod of agreement. “We wouldn’t have asked him if Che’nya wasn’t positive about the outcome.” He rubbed his back. “You’re going to be safe in Sunnydale, Riddle.”

Riddle cleared his throat and nodded. “With that said, we should get to the Mirror Chamber and see everyone off.” He looked at Arisu with relief in his eyes. “Thank you again for this.” He added softly. 

“For a friend, anything.” Arisu hugged him once before leaving the dorm with the small group.

The group left the dorm in silence as he they picked up the rest of the students (granted some were shooting Che’nya looks, but the cat waved them off). At the Mirror chamber, Crowley was letting everyone know the travel safety when returning home. Friends were hugging and letting the other know they would text them the moment they got home, Arisu had to assure Ace and Deuce that he would be keeping them updated but they weren’t having it; they wanted their Alice to come home with them – it took Riddle a while to get them off him (and that was with Trey and Che’nya helping). The Octavinelle Trio came and wished them well, Floyd was riling Riddle up the entire time until the prefect was red in the face and Arisu had to quickly defuse the situation; when questioned why they didn’t have their bags, they confirmed they weren’t returning home as they couldn’t stand the cold where they were from. That was understandable.

The Savannaclaw trio also came by; Leona had an annoyed look on his face but smiled as he ruffled Arisu’s hair wishing him a happy holiday before going through to return to the Afterglow, Ruggie was behind with a huge cooler and bags packed to the brim with ingredients and materials from the cafeteria; he smiled at Arisu and thanked him for his gift before hurrying off through the mirror; Arisu looked at the other and winked, if Ruggie was excited about his gift he was going to be in for a huge surprise on Christmas day. Ace and Deuce were in automatic agreement and assured him that they would bring something for the surprise.

“Ah, Mr. Shai.” Crowley called out. “Before you return home, I was wondering if you could do something for me?”

That was never a good sign. Everything bad happens whenever Crowley asked something of him.

“Of course, sir.” Arisu put on a false smile. “What is it?”

“Could you fuel the fireplace in the cafeteria and main hall?” 

Wait that was it? Arisu raised an eyebrow at that and Crowley just continued with the request.

“They’re controlled by fairy-like creatures, and they’ve been living in the school’s fireplace for quite some time. If the fire sprites are gone, the school will perish from the harsh winter coldness every year.” He explained. “That is why, I would like to entrust you with this duty.”

Arisu was just quiet and looked to Riddle who gave a light shrug and spoke for the blond; “It’s just feeding the fireplace; it shouldn’t take more than five minutes.” He pointed out. “We’ll be in Sunnydale on time.”

“Wonderful! Ah? Prefect Rosehearts, you’re not going home to the Rose Kingdom?” he saw the boy shook his head. “Very curious, well you have my number in case something happens – you know how old fireplaces can be in case something goes wrong, I doubt it’ll happen, we take care of them every spring to prevent out of control flames, but one can never be so sure.” He smiled. “You boys take care now!”

With final goodbyes, Riddle and Arisu left their bags in the mirror chamber and went off to the Ramshackle Dorm; getting the wood was as easy as it was said it would be, the task was quick and easy. Arriving to the cafeteria to toss the logs into the fire place, Arisu and Grim were able to meet the sprites for the first time; Grim was excited that he could feel their warmth just by being near them whereas Arisu reached out with the intent to touch one out of curiosity – that was put to a stop when Riddle took his hand into his and gently scolded him saying he would get burnt if he did that. With all said and done, the trio were about to set off back to the mirror chamber – and they would have had it not been the sounds of activity in the kitchen; curious and a little hungry (they could bring something for the road home), they went to investigate the source.

They were definitely not expecting to see Scarabia students still here! Arisu’s gaze locked with one of the students – a member from his bike club; Omar, he was with the others rushing around the kitchen getting something made and the one barking orders about how certain foods should be prepared was…Jamil. This was actually the rare time that Jamil’s hardly seen with Kalim attached to the hip and it was rising some questions as well; weren’t they going home to celebrate the holidays? Or were they like the Octavinelle’s mafia and didn’t want to return home for some reason or another? 

Their presence caught the attention of Jamil, he looked over and raised an eyebrow out of curiosity; strange sight to see, he was certain he heard from Kalim or Omar about Arisu’s home that was Sunnydale – how beautiful it was during the winter and traditions he had (honestly, he was amazed at what he had lined up; if the Halloween treat station was anything to go by he wouldn’t be surprised if Arisu’s family turned their house into an ice palace). For someone who hyped up about the holidays at home, he was still in the school…and with Riddle Rosehearts no less. Very strange, very interesting to see. 

“What are you three still doing here?” Jamil asked

Riddle was the one who spoke up. “The Headmaster asked us to fuel the fireplace today, we’re assuming he also meant to come by when we can to keep said fireplace lit for the break.” He explained. “We agreed and we were actually on our way back to the Mirror Chamber.”

There was a glint in Jamil’s eyes. “I see…I can understand why the Headmaster would ask that of you, Prefect Rosehearts, but to ask Arisu and Grim? They must be quite the students to earn his trust like that.”

“Yes…they are remarkable students.” ‘At times’ went unspoken. “I daresay if these two were in Heartslabyul, they’d be the perfect student…well, save for Grim, he does have his merit.”

Jamil nodded, he said something under his breath before another glint came to his eyes; “If it’s not too much trouble to ask, would you like to help with cooking? When everything’s finished, you could take some food with you on the road home.”

Grim’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Whoa, really?!”

“Of course!” Jamil assured. “It would be very rude of us not to offer you something warm to eat on the way home, especially in this weather.”

Riddle nodded at that. “You do have a point; I’ll assist where I can alongside with Grim.”

Arisu grinned and dug in his satchel; it was a small bag, so there was no need to leave it at the mirror chamber; “Good thing I bought some thermoses.” He smiled and took six out. “Three for the curry, and three for the cider.” He blinked when Jamil and Riddle just stared at him. “What?”

Riddle folded his hands. “Arisu, I’m just going to chalk this as a mortal thing…but…why?”

“Because it’s convenient?” He said as if it were obvious. “Look, imagine you’re going to work; it’s cold and you need something warm to keep you awake, you don’t want coffee but something to eat as well, you take this and enjoy your delicious soup of your choice.”

“Great Seven give us patience.” Jamil folded his hands. “Alright, we’ll humor; go…make the cider like you said you would.”  
  
Arisu stuck his tongue out and went over to the stove to get cider going. The kitchen was filled with the aroma of spices; the savory scent made his mouth water. With the drink made and distributed evenly in three of the six thermoses, Arisu met up with the others as Jamil and Riddle hesitantly filled the rest with some of the curry made – they were even looking at the blonde who just had a pleased expression on his face; this boy was definitely Miss Alice, she was a funny girl that spoke of things that weren’t familiar to Wonderland – except here, they knew damn well what a thermos was, but what self-respecting person would put hot food in one! Drinks, they could understand but food? There was never a dull day with Arisu around. The same could be said about Riddle; never would Jamil had imagined that the redhead was eager and quick to learn how to cook some traditional dishes, he found the behavior curious and a part of him held a bit of bitter feelings as he watched the young Rosehearts cooking alongside others. 

No, that would have to be for another day. Jamil smiled as Arisu sealed the thermoses and put them back in the bag he had, things could work out in his favor – especially since this trio had the Headmaster’s favor, clearing his throat Jamil brought their attention back to him. He thanked them for their help, and Arisu was quick to assure him that it was no problem; of course, the blond was curious as to why Scarabia was staying at the school to which Jamil assured him that it wasn’t anything bad, it was dorm business; but he wasn’t too opposed if they could help deliver the food to the dorm – it’s always warm despite the winter weather. Riddle was quick to stop Grim from agreeing, no, that won’t do at all.

“I’m sure that the Prefect will be happy to see his friends again before you leave; _You’ll come, won’t you_?”

Arisu looked up at him. “It would be great to see him again!”

Riddle just nodded, “What’s one more hour? Very well.”

“That’s wonderful to hear!” Jamil clapped his hands together. “Come, let’s get this to Scarabia.”

 *****  
  
This entire encounter had been weird; Riddle was to the side as he watched the dinner party unfold. He knew that Arisu was excited to show him and Grim Sunnydale around this time of year and was eager to get Riddle in on some of his family traditions, yet, both of them agreed to join Scarabia for tonight. Jamil had always been a weird one in his eyes, he knew the other was smarter and more talented than he lets on but never shows it, he hasn’t spoken to him much so he couldn’t really be sure if he was just silver-tongued and can persuade you into agreeing to something, or if there was something more going on beneath the surface.

Kalim was another strange case; he had overheard the first-years saying how Kalim had a harsh reputation in the dorm as being just as harsh as the ‘Crimson Tyrant’, this surprised him since the dorm head meetings showed Kalim as more of a laidback person; he may not be close with the head of Scarabaia but then again; perhaps he was just harsh at the dorm but laidback outside? It was hard to tell, he’d ask Arisu, but he figured the boy hardly knew him that much. He shook his head, this wasn’t his problem, they were just here for dinner and they were going to be on the way home. Riddle just smiled over at his friend who was pulled into a dance and let out a light chuckle, perhaps he was just overthinking some things; the dorm will be fine. His thoughts were broken when Kalim came rushing over with Arisu and Grim, offering a tour for them; there were some hesitance from the three guests but they figured why not; how often does one get to see the entirety of Scarabia?

Gold. Gold everywhere. Riddle knew that were dorms with a palace like feel to it but this? It beat out Pomefiore in terms of royalty aesthetic, of course it helped when your father donated to the school; Grim had asked about it and if Kalim was a prince like Leona – he wasn’t but he had relatives who were royalty, and that comment was enough for Arisu to whisper to him saying ‘in short, he is a prince’ causing Riddle to let out a laugh – he had to quickly assure the other prefect that Arisu was making him laugh with an inside joke between them; Kalim just smiled and said it was good that Riddle had such an amazing friend.

“Ah! That’s right, you guys were going to head to Sunnydale for the holidays.” He said with realization. “Perhaps in the summer you guys could come visit our hometown! I’ll welcome you gladly and show you everything there is to see!”

Grim climbed up onto his shoulder. “Do you live in a castle too?”

“Nah, I don’t.” He shook his head. “We only have about…a hundred servants.”

“Isn’t that a little much?” Grim choked. “I only have one and he’s mean.” He pointed to Arisu who just gave Grim the middle finger. “See?”

“Well, I’m from a big family with over thirty younger siblings; it’d be hard to look after them if we didn’t have that many servants.” He didn’t flinch when Arisu and Riddle choked on surprise. “Or was it forty? I stopped counting when they reached thirty, but I remember all their names and faces though!” he giggled.

It’s official, Kalim’s family are actually rabbits disguised as humans.

“So, what about Jamil?” Arisu asked. 

“His family’s been attending to our family for years.” Kalim smiled. “We’ve been at each other’s side since we were little.” He took his hands into his and smiled. “Come on! There’s something you and Riddle _have_ to see!” he pulled him to a room and flicked the lights on.

Even more gold. No, it was more of a treasure room; the entire room was filled with not only gold, but various trinkets – Arisu swore he saw a diadem somewhere among the riches. Grim finally started floating around forgoing his lazy and lounging on someone’s shoulder to get a better look at everything; Riddle just stared and shook his head when Kalim said it was a few things that his father wanted him to bring to school. Royalty or not, one thing Riddle was positive about; Kalim was crazy rich. 

“There’s one I love the most among this pile of treasure.” Kalim looked around. “Huh? Where’d it go?” He sighed. “Sorry, it likes to move around on its own.” He left them to go look.

“Moving treasure…” Arisu sat down and shook his head. “I knew Pomefiore was lavish but…oh my god I think I’m a fish out of water.”

Grim finally landed and went up to a pile. “A big jewel and a shiny gold cup; there’s a lot so maybe stealing one or two won’t be too bad~”

Riddle grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. “You will do no such thing!” he was about to scold the tanuki when he felt a tap on the shoulder. “Arisu, I’m trying to scold this tanuki for trying to steal from the host.”

“Uh Riddle, I’m nowhere near you.”

The boy blinked and turned around to see a carpet behind him; the shock of seeing a floating rug made him dropped Grim to the floor. Arisu rushed over and looked at the flying carpet with wide-eyes; this had to be a – no, it’s not a dream. If his cousin had a flying windboard, and broom flying was a class here, why wouldn’t there be a flying carpet.

“There you are!” Kalim went up to the carpet. “I wish you’d stop flying off like that!” he smiled to the others. “Ta da! What do you think?”

Grim hesitantly approached it. “What is that?” he pawed it once and backed away, his fur was standing up. “Is it a cursed carpet?”

Kalim laughed. “Cursed? No, no, this is the legendary Magic Carpet from the Land of Hot Sands! I was told that this is a replica of the Magic Carpet that the King – the same one that the Sorcerer of the Desert served – used to fly in the sky!” his eyes lit up. “You know…the sun will set soon; I have an idea!” 

Riddle stared at him; “You’re not seriously going to try putting all of us onto that, are you?”

Kalim looked at them and held his hand out, “Riddle, Arisu…do you trust me?” he smiled when they nodded at him, and he took their hands into his as he took them away. **“I can show you the world; shining, shimmering, splendid.”** He turned them so they were face to face. **“Tell me princes, now when did you last let your heart decide?”** Letting go, he went behind Arisu and covered his eyes for a brief second **“I can open your eyes.”** He pulled away and held Riddle in a side hug. **“Take you wonder by wonder; over sideways and under on a magic carpet ride”** He let go and took them outside where they got onto the carpet and took to the skies.

Unlike with a magic broom where you had something to hold onto, flying on a carpet was another feeling and needless to say, Arisu felt himself latching onto the person nearest to him; Kalim. After they reached ‘cruising altitude’ Arisu was able to let go of him and apologize softly. Kalim just assured him that everything would be okay and that he wouldn’t let anyone fall. Being in the air was amazing, even though they were used to being on brooms this was still a wonderful feeling. The stars looked like diamonds!

Kalim smiled at them, it was definitely a whole new world to them. **“A whole new world; a new fantastic point of view.”** He looked down at the dorm bellow. **“No one to tell us ‘no’, or where to go, or say we’re only dreaming.”**

Arisu moved a little bit to the edge and looked down; his eyes lit up at how the world looked from a bird’s eye view! **“A whole new world, a dazzling place I never knew!”** He’s been on a broomstick before, but he’s never been this high in the air before, he’s never seen the world like this before. **“But when I’m way up here, it’s crystal clear, that now I’m in a whole new world with you!”**

 **“Unbelievable sights.”** Riddle started off; he felt his heart race with excitement. **“Indescribable feeling!”** He started to stretch his arms out like a bird (Okay, technically, Arisu lifted his arms up and say ‘You are now Rose’, he would never get over Arisu’s antics). **“Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling through an endless diamond sky.”**

They flew like this around the dorm some more before they finally settle at cruising pace; everyone was relaxing and playing with the clouds here and there before Kalim made sure they had a wonderful flight. The group did, and they just stayed either laying on each other’s shoulders or in the case of Grim, he was curled up and purring.

“How often are you in the air?” Riddle asked.

Kalim thought for a bit, “I guess every other night?” he shook his head. “It actually helps clear my mind of any and all stress…” he looked at them. “Jamil tells me that I worry too much sometimes, kinda wish he’d take it a little bit easy too.” His smile didn’t falter.

“Well…it is two weeks of winter break.” Arisu pointed out. “Perhaps you guys could just take it easy instead of the Winter Training Camp?”

“You may have a point.” Kalim nodded. “It’ll give Jamil one less thing to worry about”

“And here, you get a first-hand glimpse of Arisu’s magic to get people to agree with his ideas – remember, this is the same boy that convinced Leona Kingscholar to celebrate Halloween in his realm and talked him into Trick or Treating.” Riddle grinned when Arisu turned and stuck his tongue out at him. “You know it’s true, you’re a mortal siren; your voice and sweet doe eyes lure people in and then they can’t escape until they comply to your demands!” he laughed as the boy gave a gentle shove.

Kalim laughed and shook his head; “You two bounce off each other so well! This is proof that you two are good friends!” he smiled and started to glide them down to the dorm. “Come on, we have dinner to be have and then you guys can head home.”

*****

If one were to describe the night in one word it would be confusing. Jamil had walked up to them and had to borrow Kalim for a while to confirm some things; it was fine, sounded like typical dorm-head duties and it would be fine. Dinner with the rest of the dorm was lively as ever – turned out Jamil had to take over on the training while Kalim was showing the three around. Granted they would wait until an announcement was over before the main course, but there was no rule about appetizers first as they just talked and made playful banter; Omar had made a small jab to Arisu saying ‘At least our dorm leader’s not making us run up and down the stairs for training’ to which Arisu would remind him ‘It’s to work on getting used to incline rides.’ 

That was when things turned to a rough start; Kalim had returned and…his expression was different; he looked strict (almost like Riddle on a good day when it came to dorm head duties), but that wasn’t it…normally when Arisu looked into a person’s eyes he could see their soul room; with Kalim, he couldn’t really see anything! No candle, no room, everything looked like it was covered in a shroud. Riddle looked at his friend and had the same expression; something was wrong here, but the question was how to approach it.

Bombshell hit; so much for agreeing to the sending the students home for the break. Instead there’s five hours of studying and four hours of training then there’s defensive magic training…starting after dinner tonight. This was insane, even more so when Kalim turned to the three (Riddle, Arisu, and Grim) and said they would be participating as well. Riddle had tried to argue about it and was close to decapitating him but…that was put to a stop by Jamil who just said ‘Don’t try challenging him, it won’t end well for anyone’. One look at the other students; Riddle lowered his wand; he knew that one word from the prefect would get a mob going. 

“We’ll play along for now.” Riddle snapped at Kalim. “But mark my words, we’re _leaving_ as soon as the first training session is over.”

There was a tense staring contest throughout the entire dinner hour; only breaking contact when they had to go outside to start magic training.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can tell this will be showing up in the comments: Yes, sometime during the dinner party; Jamil tried hiding the thermoses in the Scarabia dorm kitchen. And YES two days IS OKAY to eat leftovers still.

By the time it was close to ten at night; Riddle was escorted to the spare room along with Arisu and Grim, there was something that was unsettling about the whole thing that he couldn’t quite place. He sat on the bed and retraced their steps; they left their suitcases in the mirror chamber as they were certain to return so they could go to Sunnydale for the holidays after they fed the fireplaces, they met Jamil and other Scarabia students and helped with the catering for lunch and dinner, as they were about to head out after bidding Jamil goodbye Riddle had felt himself agreeing to visit the dorm – okay, putting a tack there, that has to be important for later – Kalim was his usual bubbly self and even took them on a magic carpet ride, finally when it came to dinner he did a complete 180. 

There was more that had happened; after training Jamil had confirmed that the dorm head was under a lot of stress, blamed himself for ‘failing’ to help his students, and more. This was a Scarabia issue and Riddle was more than happy to not get involved in other dorms’ drama. Still…Jamil was something else, he was not only praising Arisu’s ability in the Overblot incidents but he was begging for his help; now, Riddle instantly put a stop to that and whispered to his friend to not get involved but…like before with the invite to the dorm, they ended up accepting before noticing. Arisu, he could understand with his tender heart, but himself? No, there was definitely something else going on. His thoughts were interrupted when Arisu sat on the bed with him and pulled him into a hug, saying softly ‘You’re doing the scowl when you’re overthinking again.’ This boy and his soft heart were going to be the end of everyone, it was official and it made Riddle chuckle at the thought. Speaking of who, he had been meaning to bring up the events around the boy; Arisu could enter souls, surely, he had seen something that could help them out in this mess.

“I’m calling Vil.” He said finally. “He needs to hear this.”

Grim’s ears perked up. “You’re calling for help? Finally! I wanna go to Sunnydale and see the Christmas lights!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll make it in time one way or another.” Arisu promised him. “Why are you calling Vil, Riddle?”

“It’s about your unique magic.” Riddle said softly. After a few rings, he got an answer; “Before you throw acid at my face for calling this late, hear me out, it’s about Arisu’s soul walking.”

Silence. Vil sighed and yawned; “Make this quick, what the hell is going on?” he demanded.

“Alright, Arisu.” Riddle looked at him. “Did you get a good look into their eyes?” he asked softly.

Grim looked up at him and tilted his head confused as Arisu tensed a little, the blonde nodded before replying; “Yeah, I didn’t get a good enough look though; but, Kalim had an open garden with lanterns lit and music going.” He started off. “The strange thing is, when he did the 180 in personality change his room was like…someone covering everything with a thick curtain.”

Vil hummed a bit. “I’ll be asking about _why_ you’re still in school later; but what you described is interesting.” He started off. “Kalim is a very open person, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had welcomed you in with open arms. However, what you just described after with the curtain…I can assure you one thing, it’s not a mental block.” He gave a soft yawn. “You already know what I said about those causes; a block happens consciously or unconsciously put up a barrier to keep attacks from other magicians. Kalim is the exception to this rule as he is the most open-minded mage you’ll find at this school, figuratively and mentally…unfortunately, you know what this means.”

Riddle nodded. “He’s a prime target for magicians to take advantage of.” He finished.

“And Rosehearts, the only other person who is the same in this case is our dear Alice.” Vil warned. “But that’s because of his inexperience in magic, but back to Kalim, it sounds like he’s unaware of what’s happening to him. Is there anything else you saw, Arisu?”

“Sort of.” Arisu sighed. “Jamil’s room was dark like a tomb, the candle took form of a torch, and…there’s snakes, at least I assume there’s snakes with the violent hissing in the room. I was only there for a few seconds, so no, I didn’t get to see anything.”

Vil tapped his finger on the bed. “Interesting mental block; when we meet for school you need to tell me about Kingscholar and Ashengrotto. But going back to the now, you boys are still in the school, what exactly happened? I thought you boys would be with Arisu’s family watching Christmas lights?”

Riddle agreed and told Vil the whole story about what had happened that day. To say that Vil was surprised was an understatement; he was a little confused at the whole thing and a little concerned. There was a lot to unpack from the recount that it took Vil some time to process and try to piece things together; it was an odd circumstance to say the least and the only advice he could give would be ‘Get out of there when Kalim’s not in his weird ‘mood swing’, you two are out of your element – especially the mortal’. That was the agreed upon idea, and the two hung up for the night. The room was in silence for a while before they agreed to try and get some sleep; there was only one bed that Grim made fun of, proclaiming that he would have a nice chaise to himself while the dumb mortals fight over it. The fight never happened, it was for the one night and they would have their own beds when they got back to Arisu’s hometown and would be under a mountain of quilts even though the furnace is on (“Grim’s probably going to be sleeping on top of the vents to hog the hot air.” Arisu had whispered to Riddle causing the prefect to laugh a little. “Even in questionable situations, you still manage to find something fun out of it.” Riddle whispered, making the jab at his friend. Grim was starting to wonder if having those two in the same bed was a good idea).

In a strange way, it probably was a good idea that Riddle was in the same bed as Arisu; he felt the boy get up and sat up slightly to watch him, assuming he just had to use the restroom – nope, he wasn’t going anywhere near the restroom that was attached to the dorm, instead the mortal was heading straight out into the halls. This woke him up in an instant as he rushed to wake Grim up and started to follow his friend out the dorm, he took Arisu’s hand into his and tried to lead him back to bed. That didn’t entirely work, Arisu just pulled away and continued down the halls. Both Riddle and Grim paled at the sight before following him and making sure that nothing got in the way that could hurt the boy. 

They only had one incident with one of the Scarabia hall monitors and that was when Riddle placed his pen under the student’s chin and harshly whispered to him; “Report this to your prefect if you wish, but so help me if you cause Arisu to become disoriented because of a forced wakeup call, I will make your life a living hell that you’ll wish you never met me.” Before turning and going back to following Grim and Arisu down the halls.

Upon leaving the dorm, they followed Arisu through the empty halls of the school and to the main street with the statues of the Great Seven; it didn’t take them long to realize that the boy was returning to Ramshackle. There was a bit of dread pooling in their stomachs, if Riddle hadn’t been on the receiving end of this mess back when he stayed the night here while Arisu was in a tank…that damn mirror is going to warrant another phone call to Vil later – not tonight, it was far too late for that. When the boy stopped in front of the mirror with a transfixed gaze, Riddle approached him and laid his hand on his shoulder as he gently called the boy’s name.

_He wasn’t expecting this. Riddle looked around and found himself in a desert palace, it definitely was a better setup than the underwater show he had, but that’s not what he was surprised about; Grim was here to…this was on another level of weird._

_“Riddle? Grim?” Arisu walked up to the two. “What are you doing in my dream?”_

_“That’s what we’d like to find out.” Grim huffed. “Where are we?”_

_“Aside the obvious desert palace?” Arisu shrugged. “No idea, but…you missed the Sultan and the Vizier, there’s a procession going on outside that’s taking their attention.”_

_Arisu led the boys to the balcony and fading through the royal figure and adviser; he explained that every night was something similar to this just in different settings. He leaned on the balcony railing and watched as a procession went on; though the Prince in question had a confident appearance while someone was drumming up how great he was, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know the Prince was just…well…overconfident. If Arisu had to be honest, he felt sorry for the idiot royal._

Waking up, the boys had found themselves in the bed at Ramshackle. The dream was one of the many things that they were most likely going to discuss when the friend group got together again; this was starting to get ridiculous to another level. They hardly had time to gather their thoughts before the sound of someone clearing their throat was heard, slowly they turned to the chair where Jamil was relaxing in with a relaxed and curious expression on his face.

“Did you have a good evening stroll?” Jamil asked.

Riddle looked at him. “Go ahead and scold us all you want, but this is strictly Heartslabyul business.” He crossed his arms. “Arisu is an honorary Heart and anything that happens to him is my business.”

Jamil just hummed. “If you say so, I honestly don’t care what happened but you’re still with our dorm for the duration of the training – Prefect’s orders. You’re just lucky I was able to talk him into starting late while I come collect you.” He stood up. “Come on, get up, we’re marching to an oasis today.”

 *****  
At the beginning, harsh Kalim had returned. The march to the oasis felt more like a royal procession – that got Riddle, Grim, and Arisu sharing a look with each other. After arriving at the Oasis, the carefree Kalim had returned and he made it rain with his unique magic; Oasis Maker. The first time anyone saw it happened was back at the entrance ceremony where Arisu had not only put Kalim’s fire out, but had enlisted his help in washing the fire that Grim had started that day. When they returned back to the dorm, Riddle had mentioned that as interesting as the Training Camp had been, they had to return to Sunnydale. Kalim understood and rushed to get something; when he came back, he gave the three a parting gift – stuff from the treasure room; a gold collar for Grim with a ruby center (“A cat’s gotta have a collar, y’know”), a bracelet for Riddle (“I hope this okay, I don’t know what you’d like.”) and Arisu…a replica of the blue diamond ring the Sultan once had. More specifically, a blue diamond held in a golden scarab.

“I can’t accept that.” Arisu blurted out.

Kalim just smiled. “I insist on it! You’ve been through a lot at the school as is and…well Cater told me about how the Headmaster’s been treating you, you deserve something nice. I’ll put it on you, no take backs.”

There was hardly any time to react as Kalim just came bounding over like a puppy dog. What happened next was in slow motion; a student had bumped into the prefect and knocked him into Arisu; this wasn’t entirely a bad thing, it happened, the only difference from a normal stumble into someone and this? Normal stumbles don’t end with lips locking with each other. From the outside view; Arisu was pinned to one of the pillows with Kalim above him as they ‘shared a kiss’. Riddle just stared and felt his jaw hitting the ground, Grim was a mix of laughing out of confusion and finding the scene humorous, the other Scarabia students had the same expression with the one who caused the mess covering his mouth and constantly apologizing. What felt like an eternity (even though it was only a few minutes), the two finally pulled away and were a bright pink among themselves.

“Oh my god.” Arisu covered his mouth. “Well uh…this was um…an interesting way to part for the break.”

Kalim just quickly slid the ring on his friend’s finger. “I am so sorry about that.” He bowed a bit. “Uh you know, we have ice cream for dessert, I’ll go get you an extra scoop too! Wait here!” he hurried off to the kitchen.

“Kalim,” Jamil shook his head. “I’ll go make sure he doesn’t go overboard on your bowl.” He smiled at Arisu. “That’s a replica of the Sultan’s ring, please take care of it, okay?”

Arisu just smiled. “I’ll get a chain for it when I get home.” He promised. “Tell him I said thank you?”

“You have my word.” He smiled and ruffled his golden locks before going to the kitchen.

With all said and done, the trio had agreed that after dessert they would be on their way. It was wishful thinking as the harsh Kalim had returned. Arisu tried to reason with him, but the end result was ‘I gave you a gift and this is how you repay me? Leaving without helping around the dorm?’ It took Arisu every ounce of strength to keep Riddle from pouncing at him. They were just led to the gardens for after dinner sparring and that lasted until the evening once more; they were tired when they’d arrive at their room and were now locked in.

“Alright, we need a new way out of this…” Arisu paced around. “This is getting ridiculous.”

Grim grinned. “Fear not mortals! I, the Great Grim, have come up with an amazing plan to get us out of here and to get to Sunnydale!” he held up a spoon in his paw. “Behold! With this, I shall dig us to freedom!” he trotted over to a spot and started digging with it. “Keep watch for me, we’ll get out of here in no time.”

Riddle slapped his forehead and sighed. “I don’t even know where to begin with that inane idea!”

“I’m not on board with this either.” Arisu agreed. “But…what do we have to lose? If this fails, we can go with my idea; tie sheets together and climb out the window.”

“Are you two listening to yourselves?” Riddle demanded. “Whatever, do what you will, I’ll let you know if patrol comes by.”

The rest of the night was like that; Grim eventually got tired out from digging and had to sleep, Arisu took the next shift and let Riddle and Grim sleep the rest of the night. When morning came; they had a good-sized hole, but not enough to break out just yet. When they were collected by the Scarabia students, they went to meet with the others; given that they didn’t sleep well, they needed to keep their strength – fortunately, Arisu was able to sneak to the dorm’s kitchen to collect the thermoses (“Okay, so the curry was cold and been in the fridge for two days, but it was still good enough to eat” Riddle was going to have an aneurysm after hearing that reasoning.) Grim and Riddle declined the offer from their friend and visibly shuddered. Jamil took one look at the three containers and muttered under his breath ‘I thought I had those hidden from you!’.

It was going to be a long morning.


	30. Trust in Me/Jail Break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yesterday was fun; Turkey dinner for all!
> 
> Song: Trust in Me (Jungle Book)

Perhaps this was punishment for something; sometime after the second march to the Oasis, Arisu had found himself distancing from others to…expel the leftovers he had. He didn’t think too much about it, he probably mistimed the freshness and was paying for it. Whatever mood Kalim was in at the time (most likely still harsh) was instantly broken when eyes were on the strange mortal who was crouching near the bushes and holding himself close; that was enough to get the current training to cease right there as Kalim ordered everyone to return to the dorm and that the session would be on hold until Arisu wasn’t losing his stomach contents anymore. With everyone at the dorm, Arisu was in the guest room with Kalim looking him over and vanishing to the kitchen every so often to get something made for him – ginger being the main ingredient of course for the upset stomach; while this was going on, Jamil had led Riddle and Grim to the lounge for a little private meeting - he had his trust that the boys could relay the information to Arisu later that night.

“Since Kalim will be tending to Arisu, we’re in the clear for now.” Jamil started out. “Now, I understand the dissatisfied feeling with our prefect right now; with him keeping you in the dorm and making you train during the holidays.” He looked at Riddle. “Interfering with your plans, it’s safe to say he’s being unreasonable and despite meaning well, he’s not entirely showing it well.”

Riddle leaned back and watched as the students try begging for Jamil to talk to Kalim – no avail, when questioned why they didn’t take the complaints to Kalim himself; each story was them having positive experience. Something definitely wasn’t adding up; even more so when he heard what Arisu had told him and Vil; Kalim was opn and had a clear read versus Jamil who was hiding away. Hi thoughts were interrupted when a student said they were experiencing something similar to Heartslabyul at the beginning of the year – he smirked amused when the student realized that the prefect in question was sitting among them.

“Oh no,” Riddle assured. “I understand perfectly; I won’t deny and say I wasn’t harsh, I figured with a firm hand that my students would be rising at the top – never once in the time I’ve been the prefect had anyone failed or been expelled and I thought I was doing the right thing.”

Jamil nodded. “And though I’d like it if Arisu were with us; I’m going to have to settle with you and the cat for advice; what do you think we should do?”

Grim’s ears perked up. “You could challenge Kalim to a duel so you can become Prefect!” he offered.

Riddle shook his head. “I’m afraid that’s not going to be an easy option.” He told Grim. “Remember what Kalim told us during the tour? He said Jamil and his family had served his for years now…”

“Prefect Rosehearts is correct, a retainer drawing his sword _against_ his master his unforgiveable, even more so if Kalim’s father found out about it…I’m sorry, but we need something that won’t put my family in danger just because of a selfish request.” Jamil looked away.

“Well something must be done.” Riddle said, crossing his arms. “However, I think maybe you’re looking at this at the wrong angle; you heard what happened when I was challenged and the end result, what do you think is going to happen if you try the same method? Rebelling against the current dorm leader who has a supposed tender heart? That emotional break will be enough to send Kalim over the edge he can’t come back from.”

The room went dead quiet at what Riddle had said. Riddle had a point when it came to the risk of Overblots, it’s happened three times this school year and everyone’s been on edge wondering who the next victim would be. After the incident over at Octavinelle, it had become mandatory to have the wands checked over for any and all ink stains and that they should be meeting with the consoler or Dr. Crane if any and all emotional baggage starts to build up. The school’s been doubling down on trying to contain the streak of OB’s as to avoid other students from getting injured any further. While these were the official methods, the unofficial ones were to have students visit their strange mortal classmate to see if they were on the verge of going Overblot – Arisu agreed for a price, he had received a lot of sweets that way; a piece of chocolate for information – lately, he had been proud to announce that there hasn’t been anything out of the ordinary about students.

Arisu was a strange case, Jamil wasn’t going to lie; he’s observed the boy for some time whenever Kalim would drag him to the group table – they never were part of the conversations that happened, but Arisu had said he enjoyed their company all the same. Still, even Jamil had to admit that there was something else going on beneath the surface from the time they’ve been together; mostly the diet change. Regardless, he wasn’t going to let young Rosehearts’ stance change anything. He cleared his throat and offered to go check on their guest (“It’s not that I don’t trust the prefect with his medicinal cooking, but it may be better if I go to make sure he doesn’t have a mood swing while taking care of him”). The narrowed eye expression from Riddle hardly phased him at all as Jamil left Riddle and the other students to talk among themselves while he tended to Arisu and Kalim.

Arriving at the room, Jamil leaned on the door frame and watch the sight before him unfold; Arisu had set aside a now empty glass – most likely ginger ale – and was now talking with Kalim about whatever came to mind, if he had to guess; Jamil had walked in on them talking about music with Arisu getting excited about some band coming out with a concert sometime in the summer that he already scored tickets for. As riveting as the conversation was it was time for it to end. Clearing his throat, he made his way up to Kalim and whispered something in his ear before watching him leave and turning to Arisu.

He wasn’t an idiot. Arisu had seen the sudden shift in the prefect’s personality the moment Jamil whispered to him; he stared at the other as he approached him before speaking. “I may be sick, but I’m not blind.” He said harshly. “What the hell did you do?”

Jamil blinked and tilted his head. “What do you mean? I only told him to meet with the others while I took over your care.”

“Well you don’t have to worry much, I’m fine.” He got up. “And I’m going to slap some sense into Kalim.” He started to walk towards the door, Jamil grabbed his hand into his and pulled him back so he was pressed against him. “Let me go Jamil.”

“Arisu, please believe me, I only reported to him as the vice head.” He eased his grip on the boy. “I know he gets into one of his moods but he does have his duties as dorm head.” He lifted the boy’s chin so they were eye to eye. “As much as I want you to help us with him, I’d rather we go for a less violent way; you trust me, don’t you?”

“I would say yes if I wasn’t hearing violent hissing sounds.” Arisu pulled away.

Jamil raised an eyebrow at that. “Curious, I don’t hear anything.” He shook his head. “Regardless, your health comes first as our guest. All I ask of you is to _**Trust in me**_.” Jamil let the wave of magic course through the boy. _**“Just in me; shut your eyes and trust in me.”**_ He grinned when he saw Arisu nodding at him and leaning forward to him, closing his eyes. “That’s it, just relax and let me take care of you, Alice. _**Slip into silent slumber, sail on a silver mist; slowly and surely your senses will cease to resist.”**_ He picked him up and carried him back to the bed to lay him down. _**“Trust in me, just in me; shut your eyes and trust in me.”**_

Suppose he better remove the old clothes and put him into something fresh; Riddle cared about him as well, surely, he’d appreciate seeing his darling Alice in something clean and they did have spare uniforms lying about.

*****

“I’m so tired, I can’t move another step.” Grim whined.

Riddle was rubbing his shoulder. “The students will start an uprising at this rate.” He looked to the bed where Arisu was. “You’re his roommate, please tell me his eating habits aren’t so atrocious.”

Grim blinked and looked over at his human before climbing onto the bed. “Well…during finals he mostly went for instant meals and he was fine. I went with chips and the same menu too.”

“What about ‘leftovers’?”

“We hardly make enough for those.” Grim assured. “Anyway, where did my spoon go?” He dug around the pillows. “Aha! Found it! We’re getting out of here tonight!” he yelped in surprise when he felt someone swat him.

Arisu slowly sat up and yawned; “Grim it’s late.” He rubbed his eyes and paused; his wrist felt a little heavy. “What the hell am I wearing?” he looked at his wrist and saw a gold band. “Where did this come from?”

Riddle looked over and froze a little; “You’re also in the Scarabia dorm uniform…when did you get that?”

“I swear I was in our school uniform still?!” Arisu got out of the bed and looked himself over.

“We’ll worry about that later, let’s focus on getting out of here.” Grim said as he started on the hole again.

It took them some time before the hole was big enough for any of them could climb through – Grim made it through just fine, Riddle and Arisu felt like they were wringed pasta when the small cat creature pulled them out of the hole. The halls were quiet and they immediately made their move. It had to be cruel irony when they heard footsteps and talking from the end of a hall, without thinking they rushed and went into some random room to hide out; it wouldn’t be long until they were discovered and they needed a new plan fast. 

Fortune had to be smiling at them, when Riddle turned his phone on to get some light, they found themselves in the treasure vault (and had a familiar carpet playing with Grim). Was it a little on the rude side to take this just to escape? Probably, but they weren’t going to spend another second in this prison; it took a little sweettalking to the magic carpet before they were able to fly off and take to the skies. The students were looking up in disbelief and horror, and Grim? It was probably best not to let him drive; the moment he tried was when the carpet went out of control and crashed them into a mirror – well, upon impact, they didn’t see where they landed, they just held onto each other for support. It was official, they were dead and were likely in a purgatory void. 

“Oh my. I was wondering who would be visiting so late at night.” A cool voice came

“I came here to check if there’s a sneaky thief around, but it’s just you two.”

Correction. They were dead and this was hell.

“Jade, Floyd.” Riddle stood up and brushed himself off. “Charmed to see you two, pardon for the crash landing.”

The twins looked over at the carpet who was dancing with Grim (said ‘earless seal’ was cheering about escaping a prison). Jade grinned a bit “That looks very similar to the magic carpet that Kalim-san keeps, what were you boys doing with that?"

“It’s a long story.” Arsiu stood up and looked up at them. “We’ll be out of your scales soon.”

Someone up there must really enjoy seeing the boys suffer as is; the moment Arisu had uttered those words, the Scarabia hall monitors came rushing in – almost on an instinct, Grim rushed behind Arisu’s legs. The twins weren’t stupid; they knew the look of terror on their favorite fishes faces; Riddle and Arisu were moving unconsciously close together (They weren’t going to question why their damselfish was dressed in the Scarabia dorm uniform, nto now at least), and since the land dwellers were on their homefield…

“What is going on here?” A cold voice came. Salvation came in the form of Azul Ashengrotto walking over with a tired and annoyed look on his face. “Oh?” he looked to the three by the twins and grinned. “Well, this is quite the surprise; Prefect Rosehearts, always a pleasure to see you and my favorite student of all time; Arisu Shai, now what have you boys here so late.”

“This doesn’t concern Octavinelle.” A Scarabia student called out. “Can you just hand those three over to us right now?”

Arisu looked up at Azul. “Listen, I know we had a rocky relationship but…please help us, I promise we’ll tell you everything. Please, Azul?” he pleaded.

The student wasn’t letting off; he even had the gal to threaten the Octavinelle Trio that unless they handed the ‘guests’ over that they would have to use force.

“Honestly, I can’t allow any sort of scuffle here in Monstro Lounge, this is a gentleman’s place after all.” He leaned on his cane and smirked. “Now then; Jade, Floyd, do ‘escort’ them out.”

The twins had a wicked grin on their faces as they started to approach the Scarabia students; Azul took Riddle and Arisu by the shoulder and whispered to them to follow him. They made their way through the back and into the V.I.P lounge; he removed the ‘wall’ piece and watched through the glass and shook his head, until the twins got rid of the intruders, they were to remain quiet while in this room. Of course, he was going to start charging for trouble; those poor tables and chairs that were casualties of the fight; suppose information will have to do. He couldn’t bring himself to charge Riddle or Arisu…Grim however was another story, suppose that tanuki could wash dishes to pay him back. 

With the fight over and the twins assuring that the Scarabia duo were gone, Azul led their misfortune friends back to the main floor and looked over his silver cane bored.

“Now then, we helped you out of the graciousness of my heart; of course, you are going to have to pay us back for getting us involved.” He looked at them with a grin. “I could never ask you to pay more than you could afford so then; Arisu and Riddle will pay with information while Grim pays back his service as a dishwasher when the school year returns.” 

Riddle glared and crossed his arms; “This is going to be a long story…”

“Good thing we love stories, Goldfish~” Floyd grinned at him. “We have all the time in the world.”

“Right, we’re cutting the story short for that.” Riddle shuddered. “And then we’re leaving for the holidays; you’re not dragging us into any more problems, do you understand me!?”

“Yes, yes~” Floyd waved his hand. “Now tell us what’s happening.”


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE ARE BACK ON TRACK!
> 
> Alternatively: Octavinelle Trio Has joined the party

It was very troubling to hear all of this; Azul tapped his fingers on a chair as he thought about what Riddle had told them, it wasn’t like Kalim to act like this and if the phone call to Vil was anything to go off, it was clear hypnosis was used. It was a tricky type of magic since the caster could enforce his will onto anyone, that and Kalim held Jamil in high regards that if they went with a full-on confrontation the Scarabia Prefect would harshly defend Jamil and that wouldn’t go well. Going against Jamil is going to be trickier; Arisu was an easy target and with his current luck who’s to say that the Vice Dorm Head won’t turn their sweet mortal on his friends in just a snap. There was the option of them leaving for certain, but it was a predictable move in itself, the Scarabia hall monitors would go to either Heartslabyul, Ramshackle, or the Mirror Chamber to stop them from going too far – the two dorms in question would be the first place anyone would look when hiding a troublemaker (that is if Riddle hadn’t decapitated the person and turned them over first; but Arisu would try and hide a student – heck, he hid Epel a few times from Rook). Truly these boys were in over their heads, they had enough on their plate as is they don’t really need dorm drama to be mixed in. After all; this does cut into his own precious time on that special project of his.

Closing his eyes and going through the facts he had, a few things were clear; Jamil may appear to be ordinary but was hiding something, Kalim is an open book with everything so the sudden 180 makes zero sense, and finally if nothing is done sooner then they’re going to miss out on a lot of things that were planned (Arisu taking Riddle and Grim home, the ‘party’ over at Afterglow, the works.) His mind was made up; he was obviously going to help, and he already had a plan forming in his mind…of course, as of now it was late and without a moment to lose; he started to escort his three unfortunate friends to a guest room while he and the twins started their little plot. It would be rude to show up without a gift; it wouldn’t be long to get some food made and to get some drinks ready, then there was the business proposition he had to drum up. Oh yes, they were going to have a busy night ahead of them.

Come morning light, Azul and the twins were helping their guests freshen up; Riddle was against this and had even demanded to know what it was they were up to, the twins just assured the young prefect that everything would be taken care of and Azul had even offered to write up a contract ensuring that he would ensure that Riddle and his two friends would be in Sunnydale before the break was over. Arisu had to quickly assure him that it wasn’t needed, but he was thankful for their help; with them freshened up and strutting with a confident air, they made it back to the Scarabia dorm where Azul did the talking. Jamil was surprised at the appearance of the Octavinelle Trio and even asked why they were still here; they didn’t want to deal with the cold from the Coral Sea, and they were staying at their dorm for the winter break. Azul was apologetic about how the twins treated the Scarabia students last night, he was unaware that the magic carpet that Arisu had was stolen from the dorm and they came to return it (As for Riddle, with that sweet doe-eye look the mortal is known for it wasn’t hard to convince him to go along with any and all wrongdoings). Despite Jamil’s protests about Azul wishing to see Kalim, the two ended up meeting regardless.

Kalim was his usual cheerful self and even welcomed Azul and the twins to the dorm; he was surprised and a little annoyed after he heard the carpet had escaped on its own, even going out of his way to apologize to Azul for the trouble the thing had caused him. The prefect assured Kalim it was no trouble at all, he had learned about the training camp from Arisu and Riddle and found it to be interesting and thus offered to do a joint training camp between Scarabia and Octavinelle; it would be a quick and efficient way of ensuring everyone was at the top of their game early enough so everyone could return home for the holidays and so they can arrive at Afterglow sometime in the near future. Kalim was of course on board with the idea versus Jamil who was against it; the training camp was because they needed to catch up to the other dorm and had – well, Azul was the one who caught this – faltered in his reasoning for why they shouldn’t let Octavinelle join them.

“I understand what you’re trying to say, Jamil-san. We are practically rivals, after all.” Azul tipped his hat to Kalim. “Unfortunately, we will have to say goodbye for now. Kalim-san, Jamil-san, I wish you good luck on your training. I only ask that you take care of Riddle and Arisu; they’re quite dear to us, you see.” He left the two boys in question with Kalim and went up to the twins with a sigh. “I guess the three of us will have to spend the harsh winter alone once more…well, it’s not our say, so let’s go.”

“After we worked so hard trying to catch the magic carpet, too.” Jade had a small frown on his face.

Floyd pouted and held his heart. “It really wrecked the Monstro Lounge, too.”

The three held onto each other and started out. “Haaah, so heartbroken.”

This was their grand idea?! Arisu looked over at Riddle and Grim in disbelief; there was no way on this god’s fearing earth that anyone would ever fall for that act! He was proven wrong when it was Kalim who spoke up and told Jamil that having Azul with them would improve their training camp a lot more efficiently and it was against his family’s policies to not return favors; the trio grinned and offered their hands where they can to help lessen the load of work Jamil would have to do. Arisu and his group barely had time to react before Kalim cheerfully led the group out to the gardens to begin the morning training; a magical duel where everyone was fair game.

The rest of the day was tiring; if they weren’t in a duel, they were in study sessions – this was the only time that Arisu could be from the rest of Scarabia, he was immediately with Riddle as he found his tutoring sessions helped him more, Grim was with the Octavinelle Trio (hey, Azul did get Grim out of the red with his notes, of course he was going to be beside the Prefect to get help as well). Not only that, but it was also at a safe distance to talk about what they can without having someone eavesdrop on them; any attempt to talk to Azul about any plans went out the window, he just simply said ‘just sit and watch the master at work’. Dinner was a little tense; especially since Jamil and Kalim were honed in on the mortal boy, Riddle had to take the Octavinelle trio to the side and bring up the upset stomach incident with them. This made Azul narrow his eyes at the information and turned to Arisu while making a mental note for something later down the line.

With the evening hours settling it was time to meet up to discuss the next phase of their plan. They were in the guest room – for once, it wasn’t locked; probably because of the sleepwalking spell Azul mentioned to Jamil and Kalim and they were quick to agree to keeping it unlocked to keep the boy from harming himself. Arisu and Riddle were settled on the chaise and Grim was seated on the arm of it; the twins were on the bed and Azul was still standing as if he was taking center stage.

“The Kalim we were talking to was his usual self.” Azul started out. “I’d like to hear from you two now.”

Grim nodded. “His eyes get so much narrower when he’s angry and he speaks in a scary way!” his ears flattened

“The way he speaks when he goes 180 is in a challenging tone; like he’s daring anyone to speak up against him, Riddle nearly decapitated him.” Arisu pointed out. “Strange enough we saw the change back to normal on the following; when we asked for fresh water after a march, he went from his strict self to his cheerful self and…” he looked away. “When I got hit with food poisoning from eating leftovers, he was instantly by my side as I was losing the contents of my stomach.”

Jade placed a finger on his chin. “That is interesting; it sounds as if the narrowed eyes are an indicator of his mood; he’s definitely not one to be as moody as Floyd but there’s definitely some other underlying factor to consider.” 

“Jamil said they were unable to place during the Magical Shift Tournament and during the test – which, by the way, the tests are on you three.” Riddle scolded

Floyd stared at him. “Was Baby Otter the type to worry about that?” He thought for a bit. “Nope! Not possible, he just smiles and moves to the beat of his own drum; I don’t think there’s been a time where he was that easily discouraged.” 

Azul nodded. “There is something going on; Arisu, you’re able to see a person’s room, care to share with us about what you’ve seen with those two?”

“With Kalim, he’s in a garden with fairy lights and music playing; lanterns are hanging there as well and he’s always dancing. I do see him with friends – well, technically they’re phantoms, they take on the form of the people he’s thinking about and they’re mostly just dolls.” Arisu explained. “They’re already part of the soul room so there’s no interference.” He immediately cleared up. “But when he’s in his ‘mood’ there’s something covering the room; it’s like a shroud – I got a headache from this, but I did push through and saw Kalim still in the garden, except it was dark as hell and he was suspended by something…”

“Could you make anything out?” Jade pressed; he saw the boy shook his head. “It was that dark?”

“Yeah, sorry.” Arisu bowed his head. “With Jamil; his room was a cave, but it’s dark as hell with only a torch as the light, I would have explored it but…there was violent hissing sounds.” He shuddered. “His mental block is extremely violent and I’m scared to try entering his room again.”

Azul nodded; “Thank you darling.” He patted Arisu on the head. “Jade, could you ‘talk’ with Kalim for a little bit?”

“Of course, though I have to say that ‘talking’ to Jamil may pose to be a bit of a challenge.” Jade grinned. “I trust you’ll have an easier time with him?”

“Naturally.” Azul grinned. “Floyd, Riddle, Grim, Arisu, come along now; we have a Vice Head to talk to.”

The trio looked to each other before following Azul and Floyd out of the room and heading to the treasure to pick something up; it was a quick in and out as Azul grabbed a board game and smiled at the group as he led the way to Jamil’s room. He didn’t say anything until Jamil had reluctantly let the group in; there was a seething look in his eyes as the Octavinelle duo walked in first; Arisu looked at the vice prefect for a bit and turned to Riddle with a slight wince, Riddle just squeezed his shoulder assuring him that things are going to be okay.

“Apologies for barging in so late.” Riddle yawned. “Floyd wouldn’t let us sleep until we’ve spoken with you.”

Jamil turned to Riddle and raised an eyebrow. “Yet, you have someone who is prone to sleepwalking up and about.” He looked to Arisu. “This won’t affect you now will it?”

Arisu shook his head. “It only sparks under stressful conditions.” He informed him. “My bet is that Floyd was worried I’ll start up again.”

“You’ve read his mind, Arisu.” Azul smiled. “Originally it was just going to be the four of us, but we couldn’t really leave him unattended. You understand, don’t you?”

Jamil crossed his arms. “All too well.” He said simply. “What is it you need again?”

“We found a board game in the treasure vault when Kalim-san gave us a tour.” He held it up. “I’ve never seen this one before and we were wondering if you could tell us more about it.”

“Mancala?” Jamil looked at it. “It’s a popular boardgame back home; I suppose there’s no harm in showing you how to play. Kalim’s asleep already so it won’t be a problem.” He looked over to Arisu. “Perhaps this will alleviate some stress and he’ll be able to sleep without problems.”

“Our thoughts exactly.” Riddle agreed. “I would have brought him to Heartslabyul for hedgehog sessions but, I’m afraid they need to hibernate during this time and need their rest.”

“I understand.” Jamil led the way out of his room and to the lounge. “I would be the same if I had found out Kalim had been suffering such an ailment; now come along, it may be best to be in the lounge for this game.”

*****

It was a silent agreement; never let Azul, Floyd, and Jamil play alone ever again. They tended to be on the fierce side when it comes to competitive gaming; but it did leave for them to open up about each other, subtly getting Jamil to talk was actually easier this way (Heck, Arisu and Riddle were honed in on the Octavinelle duo when they mentioned they only became friends in middle school – and Grim getting near choked by Azul after mentioning the past; honestly those two). Still, there was the slight concern about the twins turning on Azul if he became ‘boring’, especially since there was something similar from Heartslabyul with Ace and Deuce challenging Riddle (different reason, but still unnerving).

“The Vice-prefect isn’t the prefect’s retainer, you know~” Floyd grinned. “This is perfectly normal!”

“I’m still more concerned about you three.” Arisu spoke up.

Azul chuckled. “Don’t fret, dear Alice; this is just a long running game between the three of us.” He patted the blonde’s head.

Jamil shook his head; “Afraid I can’t really understand; I’ve been raised as a retainer to serve Kalim’s family.” He crossed his arms a bit. “A master is a master and a servant will be a servant, probably for as long as we’re alive.”

Arisu reached out to him. “Jamil-”

The game was interrupted when Kalim came in, bounding in like a hyperactive puppy dog again; he sat beside them and that caused another look from Jamil (a little hard to read this time). Jamil wasted no second in scolding him for being up so late and reminding him about the possibility of being kidnapped again. Wait…Again!?

“I feel like there’s a story behind that, but it’s far too late to even ask that.” Arisu muttered.

Kalim waved it off dismissively. “It’s nothing to be concerned about. Besides, I was walking with Jade and talking with him.” He assured him. “So, what brought this up so late?” he looked at the game.

“You were with Jade?” Jamil was already up and on his feet. 

“Yeah, we were in the treasure vault.” Kalim looked up at him. “Oh, we brought some silver and blue carpets from home, didn’t we? Do you know where they went? Can’t find them anywhere.”

The rest of the scene unfolded as anyone would guess; Jamil was quick to move Kalim from the group and only after the two left did the group pick the game up and returned to their room. The end result from this plan; it just confirmed their suspicion, all they had to do now was to catch their little hypnotist in the act and Azul had a plan for that. Everyone agreed that it was time for bed; Floyd immediately got into the bed and held onto Riddle like a teddy bear despite the protests and struggles from the redhead in question, Arisu shook his head and made his way between the two to separate them – and maybe keep from sleepwalking again. Azul and Jade took the pullout and Grim had the chaise once more. There was a unanimous agreement that if their mortal started to move again to follow him and to keep the Scarabia hall monitors from interfering again; they really weren’t in the mood to deal with them if the sleepwalking spell happens again.

_Stagnant air, this was never a good sign for anything. Despite being in the desert, Arisu felt a massive shiver down his spine, he held himself close as he followed the uneasy feeling right up to the sight of the vizier with the magic lamp. He felt his heart drop in fear, he wasn’t entirely wrong about when he told Ace about Sorcerer of the Sand’s rise to power with the lamp and seeing it first hand was…terrifying. This was an unholy mix of Ursula’s rise to power and Scarr’s descent into madness._

_Watching the vizier humiliate the ‘prince’ and send him off to hell knows where was like watching a train wreck; you can’t really pull your eyes away from the scene. Even more so when Aladdin was said to start regretting not freeing the genie when he had the chance to before this happened. Every second of this passing was making him wish he could wake up now!_

_“Please wake up. I don’t want to see anymore.” He told himself._

“I told you it was that damn mirror!” came Riddle’s voice.

Arisu yawned as he woke up to the shouting in his room, he looked over to Riddle who was in a shouting match with Floyd; the eel didn’t seem to have a problem with Arisu and his sleepwalking habit, nor did Jade and Azul if anything they were the ones to offer to pry into those dreams – that got Riddle red in the face from the suggestion.

“Guys it’s too early to be fighting.” He hid in the covers. “Please screw off.”

“Nope!” Floyd picked him up and held him. “You’re going to be joining me for breakfast, remember the plan, Damselfish~”

“And what about the others?” Arisu challenged.

“Don’t worry your pretty head, come on, Damselfish is in need of _fresh_ food so he doesn’t get sick again” Floy nearly skipped off while carrying the human.

Riddle shook his head with a scowl. “Damn eel…” he muttered. “Alright, I suppose this means we get to Kalim before Jamil, and then what?” 

“As I told you Riddle-san.” Azul patted his shoulder. “Let me handle this and we’ll get you boys home in time for Christmas. Four days is all I need at this point.”

“We’ve worked on tighter deadlines before.” Jade assured as he led the way, Grim sitting on his shoulder. “But we’ve always managed to succeed our goal, isn’t that enough?”

Riddle just hummed. “Forgive me if I’m not in the most trusting of moods around you; you were the cause of Arisu losing his legs.”

“All in the past now.” Azul brushed it off. “That was that and this is this, we have a job to do.”


	32. Prince Kalim Reprise/Distraction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a little tricky because words. But you know, I had to get this done so...THANKS WENDY_PARKER AND MIKACHU FOR HELPING OUT WITH THIS SUCKER!
> 
> [fun fact: I was debating between this song and Humiliate the Boy]
> 
> Prince Ali Reprise: Aladdin

Breakfast preparation went surprisingly well for the two; while Arisu was working on dishes he was skilled in (traditional meals from home; usually pancakes, fruit bowls, and other treats that were healthy yet sweet to the taste) Floyd was going crazy at the savory dishes; he was precise with his knife work and spice sprinkling that Arisu couldn’t really help but to stare in awe and disbelief. He knew that the twins had cooking skills but this was just insane to watch! The scent the two were creating filled the air and the rest of the Scarabia dorm rushing over to them and watching in awe; Floyd was quick to invite them over to help with breakfast and with the group together they were able to get the meal made just as Jamil came in and stared with his jaw hitting the ground. Arisu smiled and let Jamil have a taste test and reluctantly approved of the breakfast just as Kalim came in with the rest of the group. It was wide and festive as ever, and instead of marching to the oasis Azul managed to convince everyone that the better exercise regimen was swimming as it would prevent heat stroke and that it would burn fat faster than walking. A lot of cheers happened because of that offer, and the rest of breakfast went without problems.

The swimming regiment went just as well as one would expect it would; it was a mix of playing around and doing laps under Azul’s guidance from the shore (Arisu had tried numerous of times to beg him and come to join them, but he kept refusing the other.), after they had finished their exercise for the morning and everyone was dried off and dressed came the studying portion; Azul had gave a surprisingly helpful tip about how to memorize things -reading aloud while walking around; it actually helped a lot of students who struggled to study while remained seated (Riddle made a small note to try this with his own dorm mates when the school year started up again) things were surprisingly well and a lot of the students – even Kalim had found themselves able to memorize the notes they had without any problems! To the side, Arisu had noticed a scowl on Jamil’s face; he wasn’t certain about Azul’s plan but the grin Azul had on his face was enough to know that they were on the right track of things. He just shook his head and kept his eyes on Jamil while the rest of the day unfolded from sparring to making lunch as a group again, and then there were a few last-minute studying moments – just minor stuff, nothing too major; just something to work on while they had tea time together – Azul had left with Jamil, the twins nodded to the group and Riddle excused everyone, telling the Scarabia students and Kalim they were going to do a group check on Arisu; make sure that his own wellbeing was taken care of – no, Kalim, it’s nothing serious, they had their own method of making sure their mortal was healthy; just worry about your students they had this under control. Kalim fell for it and agreed to it.

The small group made their way to the halls where they stayed in the shadows, listening in on the conversation before them; Jamil had used his unique magic and they got the name of it, Snake Whisper, it was quite a powerful hypnosis spell. Riddle laid a hand on Arisu and Grim and shook his head, they had to hear it from Jamil before they did anything – fortunately, that’s what recording is for and Floyd had his phone record the whole thing before him.

“I remember what was written in the contracts.” Azul said calmly. “All the secrets, worries, weaknesses, and desires of those who made a contract with me…I remember them all.”

Jamil laughed and shuddered. “What a creepy collection! I made the right choice not making friends with you. Do you have any secrets about the Headmaster in that collection of yours?”

“Of course, I know all the secrets he doesn’t want people to find out.”

Another laugh from Jamil. “This is perfect! You really are my genie in a lamp, Azul! If I can exploit the Headmaster’s weaknesses, then…I can finally be free! I can chase Kalim out of the school and become prefect myself!”

“That’s all we needed to hear.” Jade stepped forward from the shadows.

“What?! How much did you hear?!” Jamil demanded

“Everything.” Riddle strode forward. “From your hypnosis, to your plans in using not only Arisu and Grim, but me as well to do your dirty work.” He had his pen out. “I should decapitate you right here right now for such, but…I’ll let the mob take over.” He smirked.

“What?” Jamil turned and saw Floyd walking over with the phone in hand. 

“Recorded and broadcasted live all over the school using Azul’s phone.” Arisu smiled up at Floyd. “I’m sorry what’s the total number of viewers? I stopped counting at five hundred.”

“Over five thousand, Damselfish.” Floyd replied with a grin and a…deep voice. _“Evil Scheme Unfolding in a Certain Magic Academy is a trendy title.”_

“Floyd…Oh god I have so many questions not enough answers for this!” Arisu shuddered.

His moment of unease didn’t last long as soon the rest of the dorm came rushing in to the sight. In an instant it was the dorm interrogating Jamil and begging that what was heard live wasn’t true; confronted by all sides, Jamil had time to get Azul to ‘escort’ the others out, the plan failed when Azul dropped his act and smirked at him a little countermeasure was in place with a little help from Floyd; turned out Floyd made a contract with Azul to make his voice sound deeper and lent Azul ‘Bind the Heart’ to jam the Snake Whisper’s effect and redirect it. Arisu scoffed and shook his head at the trick, it worked though and now that the truth was out, the nightmare could be put to rest, right?

Not quite; Kalim had emerged from the crowd and confronted Jamil. It was heartbreaking to see the soft-hearted prefect being in near tears, he tried to pass the blackouts and dozing off as because of anemia and not because Jamil was controlling him. They were best friends, weren’t they? Jamil’s reaction to this had Floyd and Riddle holding Arisu back to keep him from lunging at the magician in question; even with the explanation being somewhat reasonable (Kalim diving into things without thinking, and wanting his family out of the Asim family’s shadows), it was still enough for the blond to want to go over and slap Jamil in the face. It wasn’t like he’d be able to get the chance to since Jamil decided to turn his attention over to the other Scarabia students.

 _“The person reflected in your eyes shall be your Master; you shall answer when you are asked, and you shall obey when you are ordered. Snake Whisper!”_ Jamil smirked at the students as they struggled to fight off the spell, he then turned and pointed to the group before him. “Throw Kalim, the Octavinelle bastards, the ‘Queen’, and the mangy cat out!”

“Yes master!” the students said in unison.

To say the battle was easy would be a lie; the group did what they could to push the zombified students away. Riddle had conjured up rose vines to throw them back – trying to cause minimal damage, the goal was to try to knock some sense into them to break the hold Jamil held. Grim was the one to charge forward, allowing his blue fire to lick out into the formation of a whip, smacking some of the students right on the rear and causing them to burst into flame. He gave a victorious little whoop for joy, pumping his fist into the air at some of the Scarabia residents beginning to panic. 

The twins, Jade and Floyd, were being just as effective with their attacks. Their footsteps were light and airy, almost as though they were in the water now. They had grabbed a long, sleek veil off of a nearby wall and were now quickly stepping around the students that tried to tackle them, each twin holding an end. Pretty soon, the two twins yanked on their corresponding ends, and the students within all got smacked suddenly into one pile. They began to groan out in pain from the impact right as Azul swiftly stepped in and tied the veil into a bow. The trio soon high-fived at their success, mischief flickering in their eyes. Though weak in some aspects of hagic, that didn’t entirely stop Arisu from firing off his own spells – wind based to knock some onto their back, he just called out an apology after he had found out that one of the targets was Omar. Whoops. Somewhere in the mess; Kalim had tried going up to Jamil in some weak attempt to appease him in some way – offering to leave for home and letting Jamil take over. Good intention, but clearly missed the mark. 

The air had grown heavy, everything was clouded over in a dark red, the energy around Jamil changed drastically – same as what he was wearing; the first thing that caught Arisu’s attention was the snake hair that Jamil had under a black turban with a red feather in the center along with a red gem, the crazed look in his steel eye and glowing red eye, the ink on his chin gave a small mock of a beard starting, the turban had a red drape behind that was in tatters, gold adorned his wrist, waist, and torso area with chains and coins, the main appearal looked like a form fitting black dress (also tattered) with red accents, black ink gloves, and black laced shoes.

“J-Jamil…?!” Kalim took a step back. “Wh-What’s wrong with him!”

“Overblot.” Riddle choked out. “Arisu, stay behind us-!”

“No.” Arisu shook his head. “I’m not dealing with this again.” He grabbed a stray curtain rod that appeared sometime during the scuffle with the other students. “Jamil, it’s time to wake up!” He rushed over and started to swing towards his head.

The blow never came, a snake had grabbed hold of it and Jamil looked at the blonde with a wicked grin on his face. In a flash, he had grabbed the rod and flipped Arisu over harshly, there was an audible and sickening crack as the boy’s head had met with the floor. He was still alive, but there was a high chance of him being concussed after that. 

“Arisu!” Riddle rushed over to him, only to be grabbed by one of the snakes. “Unhand me this instant!” 

“Drop him, snake!” Floyd growled.

Jamil turned to Floyd and narrowed his eyes at him; “Silence, seafood!” he flicked his wrist and forced the Octavinelle trio onto their knees, bowing to him.

First seeing Arisu laying injured on the ground, seeing Riddle held in place by snakes, and seeing the mafia on their knees, Grim decided enough was enough and started to charge at Jamil. Readying a fire blast at the deranged vice-prefect; Jamil turned his attention to the creature before snapping his finger and turning him into a normal house cat. That was one nuisance solved, there was just one other problem that needed to be solved, and he knew the perfect way to get him going.

“To think that mortal would be attracted to you.” Jamil looked at the struggling Riddle. “Oh, Riddle, you may be powerful but you’re not quite as strong as the prefect of Scarabia; you’re lucky to be the first one to see this!”

“Jamil!” Kalim had his staff ready to go. “Let him go, now!” he demaded.

“Oh Kalim.” Jamil sent his snakes over and held the boy in the same puppet position as he had Riddle in. **“Prince Kalim, yes, it is he, but not as you know him.”** He forced Kalim forward. **“read my lips and come to grips with reality.”** He turned to Riddle with a mocking smile. **“Yes, meet a blast from your past; whose naivety was too good to last. Say ‘hello’ to your precious Prince Kalim.”** He carelessly threw Riddle to the Octavinelle Trio and to add salt to the wound, replaced Kalim’s dorm uniform with common street rags. 

**“So Kalim, useless as him, merely a poor boy.”** He had him by the hair. **“Eldest son, need I go on? Take it from me.”** He threw him to the Octavinelle group as well. **“Your personality flaws, give me adequate cause, to send you packing on a one-way trip so your prospects take a terminal dip.”** He readied a spell. **“Your assets frozen, the venue chosen is the ends of the earth, whoopee!”** with the spell casted the group was sent flying through Scarabia as Jamil gave a mocking wave. **“So long!” he laughed. “Ex-prince Kalim!”**

 *****  
Waking up, Arisu found himself in a nest of pillows; the sound of music and joyous celebration rang on. There was a small part of him that was hoping that the mess with Jamil had been resolved, but the rational side of him was saying otherwise; especially when he got a better look at his surroundings. The students all had the glossy-eyed look as they went about the morbid party; the atmosphere was still dark and dreary, and Jamil was reclined on a throne taking in the spectacle. If Jamil was still under the ink’s influence, that could only mean one thing and he was dreading to take a look at himself for this.

He was right; he was in a red dress-skirt with a ruffled, glittering tulle layer over it; sewn around the thigh portion were gold scales and hanging medallions, the waistband had pearls lining the bottom and several pearl strands hanging from it and at the middle was a large amethyst gem on a gold base. He wore gold anklets, bracelets, earrings and a necklace. And at the top? He wore a red bikini-shape toped that had ribbon sewn from the chest to the neck. Gold lines the top adorned by two ruby gems on each side that had a tassel hanging from it; an amethyst gem on a gold base was in the middle, and a chain hung from beneath the gem and around the navel attached to a yellow gem. Beneath the chest was a gold chain on each side with several medallions. Out of everything that he had to go through with overblot victims; THIS WAS TOO MUCH!

**He’S aWaKe! BrInG hIm To Me!**

One of the students stood up and took Arisu by the hand before guiding him over to Jamil, shoving him forward so he was on his knees and looking up at their ‘rightful king’. There was a feeling of dread pooling, hoping that this wouldn’t end the same was with Leona when he OB’ed. 

“Jamil…I’m just going to assume this is the ink’s influence, please come back.” Arisu begged.

**YoU bLeEdInG hEaRtEd FoOl. AlWaYs SaCrIfIcInG yOuR lIghT fOr oThErS, iT sIcKeNs Me!**

He held his hand up in surrender. “Okay, okay! You’ve made your point clear…look, I care about my friends and I go the extra mile for them if I’m able to; I do want to help you Jamil, just tell me what to do?”

There was silence from the other before he took the boy’s hand into his and pulled him up and close so the blond was forced to move to sit onto his lap.

**HeLp? ThErE’s NoThInG tO ‘hElP’ wItH! bUt, ThIs PaRtY cOuLd UsE a DeSeRt LoTuS tO lIvEn Up ThE pLaCe**

It wouldn’t be much, but at the moment, all he could do was stall and get close to him. It was going to be a while for this to be successful; wherever his friends were, he had hope they would get here soon before things escalated, fortunately; Jamil was being reasonable with his requests, hopefully this would stay that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A'right Dicebot; do we cut the fight here?
> 
> Dicebot: 1
> 
> Nope! Have fun waiting for the Calvary, Arisu!


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So confession time: Writing Christmas time with Arisu is actually a challenge; I'm going off of what memories I have when my great gran was alive: What decorations she had up, what food mom, gran and great gran made, how our rooms looked (her room and the 'Little Room' (guest room) ), even if it wasn't full-blown, it still looked like a lot from a kid's perspective so, been trying to take Great Gran's christmas and double it.

This banquet was a wonderful thing; not only was there food and drinks all around to celebrate the rightful King of Scarabia, but they had a beautiful desert lotus performing for them. It had taken a while to find a student who owned a guitar to surrender said instrument over to the beauty before them, but the end results were wonderful; the boy would perform guitar renditions of his favorite songs and tends to stumble when he tried remembering the chords. The look of nervousness from the loyal subjects was a delight to see, he enjoyed seeing them look over to see if he’ll do anything to the stumbling guitarist; he wouldn’t, hearing that voice sing and seeing him in a natural modest light was all he needed and besides, it was adorable hearing him say “Shut up, I got this” Every time someone offered to take the role of the guitarist for him.

But even music can tend to be dull. After some time, Jamil had ordered the boy to cease playing and to approach, Arisu naturally hesitated but complied; he was still waiting for his friends to show up to get him out of this situation, one final magic duel was all that was needed to get him back to them – he couldn’t really attack now, all eyes were on him after all. Once close enough, Jamil had taken Arisu by the wrist and pulled him close so the boy was sitting between his legs and forced to look up at him.

**I’vE bEeN tHiNkInG, dArLiNg Of NiGhT rAvEn, As WoNdErFuL aS tHiS iS tHeRe Is SoMeThInG i’M mIsSiNg. A bEaUtIfUl LoVeR bY mY sIdE.**

Jamil couldn’t help but to chuckle at Arisu’s expression; of course, the boy was likely thinking about how that brute Leona was to him, but Jamil wasn’t like that. He would treat this beauty with the love and respect he deserved instead of how the other prefects have treated him; he wasn’t letting this light fade because of them!

“You want me as your…boyfriend?” Arisu asked carefully, watching him nod. “I honestly have no idea what to say.” He was pulled up onto Jamil’s lap and held close. “I mean, this is such an honor that I’m speechless.”

“You’d turn Master Jamil down?” A Scarabia student cried in disbelief.

“No, it’s not that.” Arisu quickly assured. “It’s just that…for someone powerful as our…King is.” He let out a soft giggle. “Sorry, it sounds a little foreign to call you that, Jamil, but going back to what I was saying; for someone powerful as you to pick a magicless mortal as me as their lover…I don’t know what to say.”

**ThEn SaY nOtHiNg MoRe OtHeR tHaN yEs!**

“Then let me answer another way.” Arisu held his face into his hand and kissed him. There were cheers from the other hypnotized students as he moved his right hand from his face and pulled it back with the intent of hitting him in that glowing eye. Like the snake Jamil was, he quickly grabbed his hand and pulled from the kiss.

**My BeAuTiFuL, lUcKy, DeSeRt LoTuS**

“Oh no, my king.” Arisu shook his head. “You’re the lucky one out of us all; you have everything! The glory, respect of the others, and well…you just mentioned me, of course. You’re so powerful and amazing.”

That was the trigger; Jamil took in the praise from the mortal and demanded more praises. A set of familiar voices rang from the room; Azul calling the snake handsome, Grim playing on how tall and tanned he was, Jade …mentioning how sharp his eyes were, Floyd going with broad shoulders, Riddle praising how resourceful he was, and Kalim going for super strength. As Jamil took in the praises, Arisu shifted so he was seated in a way he could get away from Jamil if needed. 

When Jamil came to and saw the others, it set of its own chain reaction; disbelief before arrogance – especially when Kalim challenged him. The start of everything came from Kalim as he conjured up a bubble wall to disorient Jamil with what it appeared to be copies of the actual opponents; while the overblot victim was focused on trying to find the right target, the twins came to the side and combined a lightning spell and water spell to strike with an electric water ball. That attack had agitated Jamil as he sent on of his snakes after Kalim, Arisu had pushed the Asim heir to the side and took the blow instead. Kalim rushed to Arisu’s side as Riddle got between them and Jamil to hold him back while Kalim moved Arisu to safety, Grim rushed forward – still a cat, but he still had his fire magic (even if it was probably enough to be considered a lit match; fire was fire and he still chose to attack). Jamil flicked his wrist and sent Grim flying into a cage that he conjured last second; cat was in the kennel now. Looking around, Jamil realized something as he was dealing with defense and offense; Azul wasn’t around. Where was he? No, he wouldn’t worry about that octopus, he had other things to worry about.

Such as getting the distractions out of the way, with another spell casted, Jamil struck at Riddle encasing him inside of an hourglass and had sand trickling down onto him. Floyd broke from his brother and rushed over to try and break him out – the break of the water and electric attack gave the deranged magician in caging the eel twins around swords. A small chuckle as he approached the two standing; Kalim and Arisu, two children of the light, it sickened him just seeing them acting with little care in the world. Using his snake hair, he grabbed them and pulled them close so they were inches apart.

**I’vE aLwAyS wOnDeReD iF iT’s PoSsIbLe FoR tWo LiGhTs To CoRrUpT eAcH oThEr**

“Do whatever you want with me, just let Riddle, Grim, and the Twins go!” Arisu begged.

“Arisu-!?” Kalim looked at him in surprised.

**TeMpTiNg. LeT’s SeE hOw YoU pErForM bEfOrE tHe QuEeN’s TiMe RuNs out.**

To keep Jamil distracted, Arisu pulled Kalim into a kiss right in front of him; both Scarabia students were surprised to say the least, but the distraction did its thing, the moment Jamil was about to react, a harsh and cold voice belonging to one Octavinelle Prefect caught his attention. The last thing Jamil saw was a flash of gold hitting his face and Arsiu fiercely holding his face.

_The cave was a little more welcoming now, the snakes were still there but they had taken refuge on the treasure pile as Arisu held a torch in hand. This visit wasn’t just from him, in the heat of things Kalim had grabbed onto him with the intent of pulling the boy away from Jamil – this would have to be another conversation with Vil when the break ended and the school year started. Arisu told Kalim to stay close and not to touch anything; the boy agreed and just held onto his friend as they walked through the cavern._

_Despite it being filled with treasures, everything was…dusted and not well cared for – of course, they were in a cave, but still…there was hardly a shine on anything. Plates and mirrors would show various scenes of the past and Kalim would be quick to point out the ones that had him and Jamil in them, confused as to why those images were scratched or cracked, Arisu just shook his head and squeezed his hand. The one they came upon recently was when the two were kids, they weren’t close enough to hear but Arisu could make out the lips; Kalim wanting to play with Jamil, Jamil declining a game and getting scolded for it._

**~~_“The very first memories I could remember were Kalim, his parents, and my own parents boxing my ears. I hated seeing all of them.”_ ~~ **

_The moment Jamil’s words echoed; the plate was covered by an agitated cobra. It was best to leave it alone. Another image showed, this time on a cracked mirror – no, correction, it was shattered and it made it hard to discern the scene, after a few squints and pressing close they were able to see a duel between Jamil and Kalim happening after Jamil’s parents pulled him to the side for something._

~~**_"Kalim’s parents were always better than my parents. That’s why…Kalim should be better than me, too. That’s why, I could never surpass Kalim when it comes to studying, exercise, and even playing – Every time I was with Kalim, I had to pretend to be incompetent."_ ** ~~

_“Arisu…is there a way we can leave?” Kalim choked. “It hurts seeing this.”_

_“I know.” He agreed. “Come on.”_

_Arisu led them out of the treasure chamber; they listened to the echoes of each memory passing by until they came upon a set of double doors – a small barred window was centered to look in; pushing through the doors, they found Jamil one a set of plush pillows, he was dressed like he normally was except for a familiar adornment on him – golden shackles, almost similar to when Arisu had visited Riddle’s room. Another gilded cage, except the chains were connected to a black lamp that was seated perfectly at the arm of a throne._

_Jamil looked up and narrowed his eyes at the two, but allowed them to approach the table before him; small enough for a party of one, the candle was in the center and was giving off violent flickering. Arisu sighed and sat down before him, making sure Kalim stayed back and silent for this._

_“Why is **he** here?” Jamil demanded. “Why are you here?”_

_“You should know by now this is a normal occurrence for me, Jamil.” Arisu explained. “Student overblots, I get targeted because of my blood curse, stuff happens, and the student is saved – this is the ‘stuff happens’ part; I…enter a person’s soul room and I help them.”_

_A small scoff. “I don’t need your help.” He waved them off. “Take the Eldest Son with you, and leave.”_

_“He’s only a spectator, this is between you and me, Jamil.” Arisu stayed firm. “And you most certainly do need help, the memories we saw are testament to that.” He watched the other before him as well as the room – no sign of the snakes, this was good the last thing they wanted was to be killed here. “Jamil, talk to me…please.” He held his hand out to him. “Make us understand.”_

_“What’s left to explain? I told you everything back at the dorm, Arisu.” He lifted a hand with chains on his wrist. “Isn’t this enough said as is?”_

_“It does make the point clear.” Arisu said, looking to the shackles and the lamp the chains were attached to._

_"I might as well accept my fate, no matter what I do I'll always have to be second-rate to that buffoon" Jamil said but there was no real bite in his words. In a last-ditch effort to preserve his dignity he was attempting to egg Kalim into either leaving or attacking him._

_Kalim came up to the table and reached out to him, Arisu didn’t even stop the other from approaching him. The heir just reached out and laid a hand on top of Jamil’s hand, he wanted to punch him…he wanted to yell at him…but everything was just frozen in the air. Kalim’s crimson eyes met with Jamil’s steel ones, the other just silently pulled his hand away from the prefect._

_“As I said, you two should just leave, there’s nothing you can say or do to help.” Jamil said bitterly._

_Kalim quietly sat down beside Jamil and placed his hand next to the other boy's before speaking "Maybe I am a buffoon, maybe I do take things a bit too lightly. But there is one thing I am serious about and that's how much I care about you. I was a bad friend and I took you for granted, I see that now" he said quietly keeping his scarlet eyes adverted._

_“A bit late for that sudden realization.” Jamil shook his head._

_Arisu stood up and nodded. “Well, then in that case…we should be going Kalim. He doesn’t want to be saved.” He gave a small wink to the prefect, watching him tilt his head confused._

_“But…You were successful in the other cases.” Kalim brought up._

_“Yeah, because they accepted the help and burned the room themselves.” Arisu shrugged. “Jamil has no interest in doing that…”_

_“You can’t give up on him! Jamil’s one of the best magicians out there!” Kamil protested grabbing Arisu's arm with a stubborn look in his eye. "I'm not gonna sit by anymore and watch! I want to see my best friend shine bright as the sun! And you're gonna help me do it!" the albino boy said sincerely not realizing the ploy Arisu was trying to play._

_“Believe me, I want to see him at his best, I want to see his full power.” Arisu took his hand into his and had a grin on his face. “He’s a fierce gamer and more but…if he’s not going to share that with us, we may as well go.”_

_A small chuckle. “As entertaining as this is, you forgot one simple tiny detail.” Jamil spoke up. “If word gets home about me surpassing him.” He pointed to Kalim. “Guess who’s going to get the worst of the scolding?”_

_Arisu shrugged. “Leave that problem to me; you’ll find I have a way with words, senpai.” He looked at him. “So, are we going to see how bright Jamil can be? Or are you just going to stay in your makeshift cage.”_

_“Seeing you, a common mortal, going against a family who could ruin your life with a phone call.” Jamil mused. “This…This I have **got** to see.” He grabbed the candle. “Alright, get out…and when I see you out in the waking world…you better deliver on your word, Shai…”_

_“I always do.”_

“Jamil! Arisu!”

Jamil groaned and opened his eyes, the first thing he was greeted to was a familiar set of crimson eyes; he groaned and sat up with a wince, his entire body was sore and he could already feel a bruise starting to form on him somewhere. All of this would be fine if it weren’t for the fact that he was still being fussed over by a crying Kalim, he just scowled and shoved him to the side before getting up and brushing himself off.

“Why the hell are you crying?” Jamil scoffed, he turned to where Arisu was laying and felt his gaze soften at the sight of the boy who was laying in Riddle’s arms. “Is he…”

Riddle shook his head. “He’s fine, he’s just exhausted after healing you.”

A small sigh of relief was interrupted when Kalim pounced and held onto Jamil “Kalim…” his tone was starting to sound harsh. “You have five seconds to let go of me before I flip you onto the marbled floor!” That got Kalim to back off from the other.

"Ahh seems like the sea serpent does have some bite to him after all" Floyd commented cheekily. "Means basketball practice is gonna be a lot more interesting in the future" he added with a wide grin.

Kalim gave Jamil personal space for about ten seconds before he was hugging the other boy again and crying tears like a fountain. "You're okay, you're really okay! I thought I lost you!" he wailed like a child and his display eventually softened the other boy enough to tolerate the hugging for now.

“I swear I’m close to throwing you!” Jamil warned again.

“You wouldn’t really do it.” Arisu said from his spot, he smiled when Jamil turned to look at him again. The smile fell for a minute. “But we do need to separate you and Kalim for a while – and before you bring up the whole ‘As a retainer, I’m not allowed to’ line, I’m going to be calling in some favors to make this work.”

“I swear, you’re impossible to be around!” Jamil moved Kalim off him and pulled Arisu to his feet. “You may be the heir’s cousin, but I know for a fact you don’t hold connections, what the hell are you hoping to accomplish?”

“You know it’s not hard for me to say ‘Due to the Scarabia training camp cutting it close, I told Jamil to return home with one of my students to help around for the holidays and he’ll be back in time for the party at Afterglow.’.” Kalim spoke up. “Jamil…let me make this right for you; we can start on a new slate from here on!”

Jamil narrowed his eyes at Kalim. “You’re going to _lie_ on my behalf? What the hell is wrong with you? No, don’t answer that, I don’t want to know.” He started off down the hall. “I’m getting my things; I’ll meet you by the mirror.”

Floyd hugged Kalim close to him. “While you’re enjoying the cold, we’re going to be with Baby Otter and his family!” his grin grew when he saw Jamil growl under his breath.

*****

With final good byes, everyone was able to head out – well, almost everyone. Kalim and Jamil stood before each other in silent conversation before they nodded and parted ways; Jamil watched as Kalim and the school’s local mafia went through the mirror for the Land of Hot Sands before going with Arisu, Riddle, and Grim to Sunnydale. Being in freezing temperature was not his idea of spending the holidays, but it would only be for the final three days; he just followed the group out of the trail and onto a sidewalk where Arisu’s mother was waiting for them. He had asked about it; wondering when she’d got here, Arisu informed him that Sunnydale and Grizzly Point were small towns it only took her twenty minutes to get to the entrance of the trail and would be here by the time they left Night Raven College. 

Arisu had informed his family of certain events; he was with Scarabia to finish up some homework and to try out their training camp, and after he would be bringing some friends to spend the holidays. They were okay with it and Loraine had welcomed them the moment they got into the car, the drive back was mostly getting caught up with everything about school and how classes were. Driving by, Grim was pressed against a window and watching as the town’s Christmas card appearance went by them, he would jump from person to person – except Loraine – to see more of the town covered in snow. She smiled and told Grim if he liked it now to wait until Christmas night when they would be taking part in a family tradition; naturally the strange cat creature asked for details and she just told him it was a surprise – as well as telling him that he looked handsome in his new sweater. Grim just puffed out in pride after that. Riddle and Jamil shook their heads, in all honesty; Riddle was a little excited about this after hearing most of the traditions Arisu had told him about (there were some he purposely left out because he wanted Riddle to get the traditions first hand), they had three days before the main event now and that’s all he cared about – well, technically four days if one were to count the Afterglow.

Once at home, Arisu led the two upstairs and pointed to each room; “Okay, over to my right is the guest room where Jamil will stay, and the upstairs bathroom. To my left, is my room where Riddle will reside; Grim I’m sure you can play nice and sleep on the recliner in my room.”

“And where exactly are you going to sleep?” Jamil challenged.

“I’ll sleep on the couch downstairs; you know it’s one of those huge L ones that you can lay down without problems.”

“You will absolutely do no such thing.” Riddle scolded. “This is your house and therefor should be sleeping in your own bed, I’ll room with Jamil while we’re here.”

Arisu just grinned at him. “Nope! Family tradition says I get to camp down here to make sure the guests – meaning you don’t try sneaking over to your presents before everyone else is awake!” he crossed his arms. “So, you two get your beds while I stay down here.”

The two just stared at him but said nothing more to the effect; in some weird way, Arisu had a point with what he was saying, on the other hand they weren’t entirely thrilled that Arisu was sleeping on the couch for three days. They just shook their heads and went to get settle in the new rooms while their friend hurried downstairs for something. Both rooms were similar and yet entirely different; they each had a poinsettia on the windowsill and lights around – while being careful not to let the curtains touch them, a stocking was on the inside of the door (handmade and personalized, Jamil’s was added a few minutes later with a sheepish Arisu going ‘Sorry! Forgot to hang this’; he knew the name on his was added last minute, but the craftsmanship was admirable), cozy quilt comforters with a theme (Jamil had reindeers and pine trees, Riddle had snowmen and cardinals), and paper snowflakes taped to the ceiling to look at when one should wake up. Both Jamil and Riddle had finished putting their bags away as Arisu came up and set down a plate of gingerbread cookies and a cup of hot chocolate. 

Grim had taken a few of the cookies and ate them happily as he thanked his friend. Arisu just shrugged and smiled back.

“We’re going to be watching a movie if you guys are interested.” He informed them.

Jamil set the mug down and raised an eyebrow. “Somehow, I feel like I should decline, what movie are we watching?”

“Just a classic that no Christmas celebration should be without.” Arisu smiled innocently. “The Christmas Tree!”

“Huh.” Riddle paused mid-bite. “I was half expecting something outrageous from you, we’ll be down shortly.”

“Perfect, see you there!” Arisu smiled as he went back downstairs.

Jamil looked to Riddle “Is it wrong that I was expecting him to say something along the lines of ‘Krampus’?”

“He wouldn’t pick that, Arisu hates horror movies unless it’s one of the campy yet stupid ones; case in point would be Snakes on a Plane, he can watch that with no problems.” Riddle finished off the cookie he had.

“Krampus is kind of that…it opens with mallgoers fighting each other for gifts and whatnot over the song ‘It’s the most Wonderful time of the year’ PG-13 rating and they get away with a lot of stuff.” Jamil took another swing of the hot chocolate. “It looks like some of the stuff should be in an R rating but, they found ways around it.”

“I’m safe to assume Kalim dragged you to see that movie?”

Jamil had a bit of a dark grin on his face. “Actually no, I told him I knew of a wonderful movie to watch for Christmas and decided to torture him with that. I blamed it on a Diasomnia third-year saying ‘I had no idea it was this terrifying’.” He snickered.

“You truly are a snake, Jamil.” Riddle shook his head. “Just don’t do that around Arisu and we won’t have a problem.”

“I can assure you; I wouldn’t dare.” He set the empty mug down and went for his own cookies. “We should be on our way.”

Making their way downstairs, they were able to take in more of the décor around their friend’s household; one part of the L couch had a makeshift bed setup with a quit (penguins) and a pillow while the other half of the couch just had a covering on it (red with snowflakes), the Christmas was white and was seated by the part where Arisu would be sleeping – it was adorned with colored lights and various ornaments both old and new, lights strung over some of the thresholds that would blink and play music when turned on, Christmas cards were taped along a different doorway that were from friends and family. A wreath with berries and apples (fake of course) was hung on the window as well as some gel window decorations surrounding it. There was an unused fireplace that had snow globes lining it, and for the main part; The wide screen TV positioned before the couches, and where Arisu was with a DVD in hand and trying to get the DVD player to work. 

“Will your parents be joining us?” Grim asked.

“Absolutely not.” Loraine said. “I’d rather eat a pig’s heart than watch The Christmas Tree again, and right now I envy that Lewis is at the shop doing oil changes.”

“Lewis?” Riddle looked over at Arisu. “Your father I presume?”

“The very one.” Arisu smiled. “And mom, it’s not _that_ bad of a movie.”

Loraine stared into his eyes and crossed her arms. “Arisu, it’s been 16 years now, I know that impish glee in your eyes anywhere.” She turned to the kitchen. “If you need me, I’ll be getting lunch going for us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, our traditional movie was NOT that horrible mess The Christmas. To this day, mom and I watch A Christmas Carol and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.


	34. Chapter 34

There were a few rules when dealing with Arisu Shai; always look at the eyes – if there’s a mischievous glint in them there’s a high chance he’s plotting something, never try turning down food – he will find ways to bring a plate to your room to make sure you’re eating right, if he tells you to prepare yourself for family game night, listen – especially if he warns you that they tend to become anarchy. The first night was lively after Arisu had shown them that horrible movie – Jamil swore to the Sorcerer of the Sand that he was forcing that boy to watch Krampus when they got back on school grounds – the family game tonight was a round of Hands and Foot, a card game that uses five to six decks of cards with Jokers; the object was to be the first to get rid of all your cards, ‘hands’ first, and then ‘foot’. Four rounds and each having a minimum meld requirement that increases with each round. The end result was Jamil, Arisu, and Loraine being tied on the scoreboard – surprisingly for both Riddle and Jamil, Arisu was vicious when it came to card games. The night ended and Arisu wished them well before going to sleep; the two waited until they were certain he was asleep before they met in one of the rooms to talk about everything.

“How are you holding up?” Riddle asked quietly.

Jamil was playing with a glass unicorn, he found it on a nearby mantle and decided to bring it upstairs to his room. “I’m fine…I guess.” He finally said, looking into the empty eyes of the figurine. “I feel…freer than before but…there’s still something still lingering.”

“Your soul room was just torched.” Riddle reminded him. “It’s going to take time to recover, believe me I was on shaky grounds after my overblot incident.” He took a breath. “It took a month I believe to get over the nightmares of believing Arisu is dead…I nearly hanged him.”

Jamil kept his gaze away. “Yeah…So what happens now?” 

“We continue to move forward, you and Arisu are going to have to meet to talk for closure – and before you say it won’t be easy because Arisu hates you, he doesn’t. He’ll find ways to get back at the treatment you had before the overblot and chances are…that terrible movie he showed us was his revenge.” 

“Right, he and his friends went Sara Berry on you, didn’t he?” he set the figurine down. “What did he do to Leona and Azul?”

Riddle just shrugged. “Don’t know, they never told me anything except ‘Be lucky you only got a musical number’.”

“Remind me to warn others not to get on his bad side any time soon.” Jamil shuddered, he looked over to the radio clock. “It’s late, we should get to bed. Will you be fine?”

“I’ll be fine.” Riddle assured. “It’s you I’m worried about.”

“Don’t worry about me.” Jamil nudged him to the door.

It was a long night for Jamil. He kept waking up every time he managed to drift to sleep, he understood Riddle’s plight when it came to the nightmares and now, he was the one dealing with the ones where Arisu was treated as a slave and Riddle being buried alive. Throwing the blankets off him, he got up and made his way downstairs to the living room, where Shiro was in a little bed under the tree and next to presents and Arisu sleeping on the long couch with no problem. The lights on the white tree were the standard non-colored ones, the ornaments were still reflecting light, presents were undisturbed, and …in a morbid sense this was a setup for a Christmas slasher. Shaking his head, he went up to the couch, where Arisu was quick to open his eyes and look up at him. 

Jamil held his hands up and assured him he wasn’t there for the presents but just to check on his host. Arisu yawned and rubbed his eyes before sitting up and looking at Jamil, he knew nightmares were starting to plague him and quietly led him to the kitchen to get hot chocolate made – it helped Riddle, and it actually helps with nightmares in general. They just sat in silence and enjoyed their drinks as well as one of the raspberry petite fours from the fridge. It took a few minutes before they finally started to talk; Arisu was the first to break the silence by asking if Jamil wanted to talk, that was the opening for him to say ‘it’s nothing serious, just…worried I might have killed you, you’re fine and I can sleep fine now.’ The blond wasn’t entirely buying it but said nothing; he just raised an eyebrow and offered the other part of the long couch to Jamil if he wanted it, the offer was just turned down from the vice prefect. Despite the rejection, Arisu wasn’t having it; he got up and pushed the couches together to make a bed shape with the couches, he went upstairs and brought a pillow and Jamil’s blanket down for him before returning to his spot by the tree.

There really was no win with this boy. Dropping his shoulders, Jamil climbed into the other part of the L couch and covered up in the warm blanket, he shook his head at Arisu before wishing him a good night.

Come morning light, Arisu was helping his mother with cookies he smiled when Jamil, Grim, and Riddle came into the room. He greeted them and nodded to breakfast on the table; apple pancakes and milk, while the three enjoyed their breakfast, they watched their hosts make sweets. Grim had asked what they were for and Arisu answered that this was around the time Christmas Carolers would be out and going door to door singing, most everyone give the carolers a treat of some kind (“I know some of the elderly give those weird strawberry candies to them.”). They give sugar cookies when they come this way. The trio just blinked and tilted their heads in collective confusion, they decided this was one thing to witness first hand; and they were right, the door knocked and the group (consisting of Arisu, his father Lewis, Loraine, Jamil, Grim, Riddle, and Shiro – being held by Lewis) were greeted to the local carolers performing renditions of three songs; O Holy Night, Jingle Bells, and My Favorite Time of Year, when they got to the third song, Loraine broke from the group and got the plate of cookies for them and wishing them a happy holidays as they left for the next house.

“Is this a yearly thing?” Riddle asked. “Scratch that ridiculous question; of course, it’s a yearly thing.” 

“Actually Riddle, it depends on the weather.” Lewis said as he let Shiro go. “Last year it was a white out so the carolers stayed home, on Eve we’ve had bad roads so the only people celebrating was just us and Hades’ family because no-one was going to risk driving in it.” He recounted.

“Just one of the many things living here in Minnesota.” Arisu shrugged. “So, what do you guys want to do now?”

Grim tilted his head. “Well, what do you usually do during this time?”

“I mean, we make igloos to spend the night in; but uh…I doubt you boys will be comfortable with that idea.” Arisu looked away.

“Why would we be uncomfortable?” Jamil asked. “So long as we have something warm and dry under us to lay on, what’s the big deal?”

He couldn’t really argue with that. Arisu got his winter coat and gloves on before taking the boys with him to their backyard and roped off an area big enough for them to sleep in before he started to get to work on the blocks. The trio watched him and looked at each other, they each brought up that it had to be easier to use magic to make it but Arisu was adamant on no magic being used in this. With a shrug, they knelt beside him and started to help make the blocks. It was almost high noon when they got their igloo done and insulated before they laid a tarp and sleeping bags inside before they went inside the house for lunch.

Arriving inside, they were greeted to a set of familiar faces; one was actually a blur as it pounced Arisu with excitement. When the calm settled, the group were face to face with a cheerful Ortho.

“Ari! Merry Christmas!” Ortho greeted. 

“Hey Ortho.” Arisu hugged him and looked to the living room where Idia, Hades, and Persephone were. “Hey Idia, good to see you again.”

Idia just nodded. “Merry Christmas, Arisu.” He looked to see Riddle and Jamil and just nodded to them. “We’re here for today and tomorrow.”

Grim ran up to him and sat on Idia’s lap. “Are you going to be in the igloos too?”

“Nuh uh, too cold.” Hades shook his head. “We’re going to be at the local inn.”

If one had to be honest; the Hades before them was a bit underwhelming. They figured it was because he was on mortal grounds and didn’t want to freak anyone out; black hair, blue eyes, and olive skin was what he had along with a reindeer sweater. Persephone was almost the same except she had a red dress with white trimming around the collar and around the bottom of the dress to give the Santa look. 

Hades took note of Riddle’s and Jamil’s expression when they met eyes and grinned. “I know, I know, seeing a Great Seven like this? It’s a sight.” He stood up and stretched. “Guess for you two, I could slip into something more comfortable.” He went from the normal looking mortal figure to the dark ethereal being; dark blue skin, fiery blue hair, bright yellow eyes, sharp teeth, sharp nails, and in a black chiton draping over him. Dread filled the air, and Persephone held her forehead with a small groan.

“Scare the kids the day before Christmas Eve, that’s a good idea.” She slapped his arm. “Put the human form back on, now.”

“I…I’m sorry, I have to ask.” Jamil spoke up. “Is…Cerberus with us?”

Hades shook his head and returned back to the human form. “Nah, I couldn’t bring him; Seph wouldn’t stop harping about ‘bringing a three-headed dog will cause heart attacks, mortals aren’t ready for Cerberus’.” Hades said with air quotes. “I’ll be bringing him to the Afterglow whether or not Seph likes it.” He smirked when she just groaned.

“Well, regardless…we’re here for the usual tradition.” Persephone smiled. “BREAK OUT THE BUD AND CARDS!”

The card table was set up, the cards were brought and the drinks were poured; to Riddle’s and Jamil’s surprise they were given a glass of the beer in question, they tried to ask why but the only response Arisu had gave them was ‘It’s one glass, it’s not going to hurt us.’. That was how they found themselves playing a wide variety of competitive card games and a glass of corona beer. The adults were just settling with bottles and sliding limes in them, after game number five it had dove into wild territory and Arisu had asked for another glass – it had to be a shot, but it was enough to get into the spirits. Everything else was a blur until dinner when the games were ending. Dinner was just a hot dish and everyone laughing about the games they’ve had; Hades had a good winning streak at the start when Poker started that was destroyed when Arisu came up behind when baccarats was brought up then he just annihilated everyone, surprisingly when it came to Hands and Foot, Riddle was the one who destroyed people left and right – his excuse was “I’ve watched how Arisu played and took his techniques for myself”

After dinner, everyone settled with a movie to watch; a classic (How the Grinch Stole Christmas) was the choice of the night and when that was over a small gift exchange was present. Hade and Persephone just gave the Shai family gift cards to a bookshop, Idia had gave Arisu Just Dance, Ortho gave him a craft book (“To help kickstart your quilting business”), Arisu gave them both a switch and a game to go with (Legend of Zelda). Both sides had a final good night before parting ways with Arisu leading Riddle and Jamil to their igloo tent for the night; Grim declined the igloo and went for the warmth of the heating pad that Shiro was sleeping on (and forced to share with the rabbit). Jamil had bundled the trio in a blanket and held Arisu and Riddle close to him before closing his eyes. 

The first night was smooth sailing, and Christmas eve was just as lively with the rest of Arisu’s family. Trivia games, entertaining some of the younger cousins; Loraine’s side was pretty big and it took a lot to handle them, that was Jamil’s strong point. Riddle was a bit clumsy but still helped (he had a stern yet caring hand) and Arisu was just thankful he had those two to help him. The Present fiasco ended with Shiro running around and playing in the wrapping paper, while everyone was just relaxing with hot cider and the likes; movies were the rest of the night was spent watching movies from Christmas films to anything they wanted to watch at the time (minus the R rated stuff). Everyone ended up falling asleep where they were; some on the couches, chairs, on each other. Christmas Day was just everyone parting for the time being and Loraine packing up food, Lewis was getting the car ready along with Riddle and Jamil. Today was the day they were going to the Afterglow, and everyone was excited and couldn’t really wait. It was going to be memorable.

*****

Ruggie couldn’t believe it. He was floored when Leona came over with his family and some servants bringing in food, he didn’t think much about it at first, he knew they were going to show up – they always did and started to look around before talking with him and the others about renovations to the slums (It would take a _**long** _time for that to be a completed project, but they’d prefer things to be done little by little than one grandeur that would overwhelm anyone). But then Rook showed up with a sled of his latest hunt; he didn’t wait a moment too soon before he was starting up a firepit and cooking the meat over a spit while working on making clothing and the like from the fur. That was when Ruggie started to raise an eyebrow and question about it; he got the answer in the form of Vil, Jack, and Epel striding in with baskets and carts, it didn’t stop there…every land, and every student that was a part of Arisu’s group was showing up and bringing their family and a variety of food.

He lost it, he couldn’t believe it; he gave a shrill laugh when Arisu and his group came over with their food. 

“Arisu!” Ruggie wiped his eyes. “What is all this!?”

“It’s your Christmas present.” Arisu said. “I know I got you Hello Fresh, but…I wanted to do more and arranged this huge banquet!” he smiled at him

Another shrill laughter came from him before he hugged him. “Arisu…” he looked over at Leona. “Leona! Do you hear what this kid is saying!”

Leona huffed and brought out Coolers. “Yeah, he wouldn’t shut up about this banquet.” He huffed. “He kept begging me to talk to my brother about it.”

“I approved of it.” Farena reminded him, he turned to Arisu and shook his head. “You’ve picked out a good friend, Leo, he’s a good kid.”

“Augh shut up, he doesn’t need you to praise him.” Leona elbowed him. “His ego is big enough as is.”

Arisu shook his head over at the antics of the two brothers, at least the two were on good terms (so to say, they were civil and Arisu was going to ask Leona for details later.) He went among the crowd and watched as the hyenas and the others were mingling with others while going after the food as well, things were really in the swing of it all and everything was coming together. To the side, he saw Riddle talking with Azul and the Leech Twins, though curious what they were talking about, Arisu just decided to let them be and be around others for the time being.

Malleus had come up behind and relaxed in the sun with him; he gave Arisu a small parcel that held a tomogachi for him. Arisu took it and thanked him before hugging him, he named the tomogachi Kirito from Sword Art Online, the two just laughed about it and spent part of their time together just playing with their small handheld games. Even though Christmas day had passed in Twisted Wonderland, it was still the 25th back home and it was still warm among everyone here.

Over near where Azul was, he had pulled Riddle aside with the twins; he knew the young Rosehearts and some of his dormmates were sneaking around the halls, and even more so when they got Kingscholar and the Diasomnia Quartet involved. Azul had tried what he could with the blood work but every result was…he couldn’t really place it but something has been messing with results and it was bothering him greatly. He wanted to know more and the only way he could do that was to get information from Riddle.

“We have to talk, Riddle.” Azul said. “I know we’re not on trusting terms, but we do have the same goal in mind; we both know Crowley is a shady headmaster and we both know that Arisu’s health is both of our concerns. I offer up a partnership with you; no strings attached.”

Riddle crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Information for information.” He nodded. “Very well, Ashengrotto, we’ll talk at your lounge when the school year begins again.”


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter features:
> 
> Siblings  
> Heart to Heart  
> Kisses  
> Dorm Sorting

Cater had to admit, this was an amazing party; of course, he could go without his sisters being there as well, but aside from them being here he was having fun and livestreaming everything – well, almost everything, he made sure to keep Riddle out of the frames. He made his way over to the food bar and hugged Arisu from behind before getting the two of them in the frame; cheerfully saying that this strange human had done it again with his crazy ways – okay, it wasn’t all on him, but Cater enjoyed seeing Arisu so flustered when the limelight was on him. Cater laughed and ruffled his hair, letting the boy know he was just messing with him and asking what dishes he and his family brought over. Arisu let a sigh of relief as he showed him what was on the Shai menu; scalloped potatoes, broccoli salad (“yes, there’s mayo in this, and if Vil has a problem with it he can fight me later”), and cupcakes. 

Cater couldn’t help but set the phone down and try one of the dishes (the scalloped potatoes), that just led to the two talking about recipes and exchanging them with each other before trouble came. Double trouble: Caroline and Coraline, his two older sisters who decided now was the perfect time to tease him around the first year.

“Oh, who's this little cutie? Are you one of Cater-tot's friends, pretty boy?" Caroline said resting her chin on the top of Arisu's head as she grinned playfully.

Arisu gave her a tight-lipped grin as he was trying not to burst out laughing at hearing the nickname she used for Cater. He could see the familial resemblance between the two, although the girl's hair was much choppier than her little brother's do was. 

"Hi! I'm Arisu, Cater's told me... well actually he's told me practically nothing about you except that you're kinda bossy" Arisu said despite the gestures Cater was making at him to be quiet and not get him in trouble with his older sisters. "So, did you go to NRC too or..."

"Who cares about boring stuff like that, you wanna hear about the time Cater-tot first used his unique magic and scared himself so bad he peed his pants?" Caroline said with a flick of her head. “He thought he met his doppelganger!”

Arisu laughed and covered his mouth as he looked over at his friend who was blushing and was trying to hide his face. “I can’t believe that.”

Coraline took Arisu’s hands and spun him around. “I’ve seen you in Vil’s photoshoot for Temptation, you were so adorable! Tell me, are you going to be with Poisoned Apples from here on?” 

“The only way I will is if Vil drags me to them.” Arisu let his shoulders drop.

As this was going on with Cater, Leona was being dragged by his hand to wherever Cheka was guiding him. He was wondering how the hell Arisu always managed to be so convincing when it came to whatever idea he concocted inside his head. Heck, he was still kicking himself for agreeing to go to Sunnydale for Halloween, he could have easily told him no and to get out of his dorm; yeah they had their sessions where they could talk about the OB incident, but outside that there was no need to interact with each other. Arisu Shai, he was a confusing mortal to the end.

Shaking those thoughts from his head, Leona looked as to where they were going and felt his eyes grow into wide saucers; before him laying down on his side was Cerberus himself. Black dog with three heads and bright red eyes, Leona had to hold Cheka back from the beast as he tried running up to him. It took a lot of willpower on his end to keep the struggling boy at a safe distance.

“He can go pet Cerberus.” A tired voice called out. Closer look showed Idia hiding in his hood and playing on his phone, he looked up at Leona for a minute and saw the struggling Cheka who wanted to pet the three-headed behemoth of a dog. “He likes belly rubs.”

Leona huffed and let Cheka run over to Cerberus before sitting beside Idia. “You brought the guardian of the underworld to a party.” He leaned back in the shade with the other. “I’m afraid to ask why.”

“Relax, dad said he was bringing him.” Idia muttered. “Mom wouldn’t let him bring Cerberus to Sunnydale so eh opted to have the overgrown puppy to be brought to this gathering.”

“Kids seem to like him.” He watched as Cheka and the Hyena kids played with Cerberus, some were hanging on his tail as he wagged it at a gentle pace to prevent anyone from flying off. “Hard to imagine this is the same fearsome guardian at the gates of the underworld.”

Idia shrugged. “Trust me if anyone from Olympus outside Aunt Demeter and mom were to approach him, he’d try biting their heads off.”

“Right, forgot your parents and them hardly ever get along.” Leona shrugged. “Of course, I wouldn’t be opposed to having Cerberus bite Zeus’ dick off.”

“It would save a lot of problems.” Idia paused his game and looked over at him. “How are things on your end?”

“If you mean with Farena, we’ve talked.” Leona crossed his arms. “He’s still fretting about me even after the incident from Magical Shift, Cheka’s still…well…a hyperactive furball, and Arisu is still the convincing obnoxious herbivore I regret ever meeting.” He turned to Idia and sighed when he saw the bluehead staring at him. “Fine, I won’t deny that the idiot has his moments; I still have the robe he made for me for Christmas, tell Arisu I said thanks, is that what you want to hear?”

Idia returned to his game. “Decent then.” He concluded. “The new year is around the corner; you should start on a new slate.” He looked over at him once more. “That’s just a suggestion, you’re free to take it or not but…You are looking better; I’m not seeing a dark shadow over you, that should count as something.”

Leona just pulled the hood over Idia’s head more. “You and your cousin need to stay out of the damn soul room.” He huffed.

Family was always the iffy part of any gathering; but Leona did have to admit that Idia was right, he was feeling a lot better since the magical shift tournament. He shook his head and watched as the kids continued to play with Cerberus, it actually did bring a smile to his face seeing them like this – he’d instantly deny it if anyone were to ask though, but that would be for another day.

Somewhere on the entertainment group, Ace and Deuce were dancing for people, it was a penalty game from losing at cards. Silver shook his head at the sight of their choices, flossing from Fortnight. He couldn’t help but to shake his head at them, it wasn’t until after they stopped their dancing that they were able to continue on with the game at hand; TV and Movie trivia and it was agreed upon for Battle of the Sexes, while the game went smooth, there were times they had cards that were just blank with no answers to the question. Then it delved into anarchy; someone made an off-colored joke as an answer to a question (surprisingly, it was Deuce’s mom who made the joke), Silver nearly pounced on Ace when it came to action films (“You live and breathe those movies!” Ace would retaliate with “You lived since the 15th century and you couldn’t answer a Gunsmoke question?! You probably grew up with it!). Lilia just watched from afar and shook his head, ah children these days.

Being around for so long, Lilia has seen his fair share of…strange things; Arisu coming to Twisted Wonderland was one of them and it took a lot of convincing from Silver and Malleus to not try and bring childhood memories into things so early – of course, he ignored that suggestion and went to being vague about it. He understood where they were coming, the poor boy was probably going through a lot and overloading him with information would have caused more problems and get that meddlesome headmaster involved. Oh, he was still upset about him; a bat had reported about the false phone call and Shroud confirming it, Lilia wanted nothing more than to storm into the office and go after Crowley for that stunt – even more so when a bat reported that Arisu went on a near impossible errand run to keep Ace and Deuce from getting expelled (His old heart nearly stopped when it was revealed that those three boys faced against a monster in the mines.

“You know, Christmas time is supposed to be a happy time.” Kalim sat beside Lilia. “What has your scowl growing?”

Lilia’s smile returned when he saw the young Asim heir. “Just thinking about the stupid headmaster.” He shrugged. “And seeing Silver acting feral, honestly if that boy isn’t sleeping, he’s jumping over the table because of something Sebek – or in this case, Ace – did something.”

Kalim couldn’t help but to laugh at that. “Hey Lilia, can I ask you something?” he watched the elder Fae nod. “Okay, there’s actually a few things; one, What’s the story behind you and Arisu, I mean…aside the obvious betrothal to Malleus thing but why didn’t you say something at opening ceremony?”

The smile fell a bit. “The betrothal part was just to keep the Coven side of the family from bothering us.” Lilia admitted. “Of course, we could have easily dropped it the moment we came here, but…sometimes it’s rather difficult to know who you can trust. I believe you know that all too well?” he watched Kalim and just nodded. “As for the now; I won’t lie, in the years I’ve been alive, I’ve seen a lot of things and each one continued to surprise me but not as much as when the Ebony Carriage came to pick up Arisu…if I have to be honest, I actually see him more as a Royal Sword Academy Student.”

“We’ll go back to why you know about Jamil and me later, why would you think he belonged to RSA?”

“Same reason you yourself should be there.” Lilia shrugged. “You’re both blinding with a radiant light; I’m going to spare the history lecture since Mr. Trein is going to be covering it when spring hits – he does it for every class. Anyway, due to the light you both share, you’re more prone to have the shadows flock to you like a moth to a flame.” He crossed his arms. “Unfortunately, some people, believe this to be a curse and if you’re unfortunate enough to be born on that side they will drill it into your head.”

Kalim winced, and Lilia continued on. “Anyway, you know what happened at the ceremony so I’m skipping over it; I’ve spoken to Silver, Sebek, and Malleus about it and it was agreed that we wouldn’t dig up childhood memories while he’s stressed out. No need to get him on the verge of a breakdown; I was vague about our history when around his new friends, and…this is actually on Malleus for being out at 3 a.m. but, the day he met Arisu outside Ramshackle, our sunflower didn’t recognize him nor did he recognize Arisu until names were exchanged – Though, this could have been avoided if the idiot wasn’t stalking the dorm at the dead of night.”

“Do you ever regret not saying anything at the ceremony?” Kalim asked softly.

Lilia sighed. “Sometimes, but…if I had said something you and him wouldn’t have been friends, now would you?” He smiled. “I suppose despite the unusual circumstances it turned out okay – not going to lie, his magic ability still sucks to this day.” He chuckled. “But he has his charm if he was able to convince Leona to talk to his brother about this.” He looked at Kalim. “What about you? Is there something you’re regretting about?”

Kalim looked away a little from him; “You’ve been around for ages…If you had a friend who kept a secret from you for a long time and if that friend doesn't want to be your friend anymore, what would you do?"

“Quite the question.” Lilia shrugged. “I suppose you either give them space to work things out on their own or you just move forward.” He sighed and looked at him. “Kalim, I am serious about my advice, it may sound harsh and mean but it’s for the best you back off for the time being and let him approach you instead.”

Kalim just let his shoulders drop as Lilia said that, he wanted to argue about it but…if there was one thing about the faeries, he remembered by heart it was that the faer folk were incapable of lying, Lilia was giving him an honest answer. He let a soft sigh and went back to the game at hand with the rest of the group. He could tell that the new year was going to be tensed.

  
A few days had passed since the Banquet and everyone had returned for the New Years, (technically speaking, Arisu would be celebrating twice when he got home after tonight) meeting up once more; Arisu and Leona tag teamed into making Grasshoppers for everyone; one table would host virgin versions of the drink while the other table was for the adults with the liquor in it. The following year had been a crazy one, but in the end, they were here for another celebration and ready to go on with their heads held high and ready to storm into the next year with confidence. Arisu was handing the virgin drinks out to his classmates and to the other hyenas of the slums, when he had finished, he sat on a blanket and relaxed where he was for the upcoming fireworks. 

He couldn’t really help but to smile; despite the craziness that had happened, he made amazing friends here and if he were to be completely honest, he didn’t want anything to change and he wouldn’t want to change. From the croquet games back at Heartslabyul (and helping Ace and Deuce gather the runaway flamingos and hedgehogs), the Magical Shift practices with Leona (and ending up with scratches on his knees and a lot of rough playing between the three), Kalim and the Light Music club was mostly singing and dancing if they weren’t playing games there, even his bike club members were filled with a lot of energy to be around. Night Raven college was just one exciting thing after the next (minus the Overblot episodes).

“Such a wonderful gathering.” Arisu looked up to see Rook standing over him. “Mind if I sit next to you, cher?”

Arisu smiled. “Go ahead, Rook.” He moved over on the blanket for him. “How was your holiday so far?”

“It’s been fine.” Rook took a drink. “This month I’ve had an Advent Calendar where I got new pieces of jewelry for each day, my family and I went into town with our Navity figures and the rest of our traditions don’t happen until January sixth…You already saw us bring a special meal here as well as show the children our other tradition of leaving shoes by the fire for Pere Noel to fill with gifts.”

Arisu smiled. “You had a hand in filling those shoes, I’m guessing.”

Rook just looked innocent at that. “Perhaps, what about you mon petit lapin?”

“We just watched movies, played trivia games, and give cookies to Christmas Carolers.” Arisu shrugged. “We opened presents on Christmas eve and Shiro played in the wrapping paper, and then Christmas day we came here to celebrate with everyone.” He smiled. “Normally on Christmas day itself, we just sleep in and watch a Christmas parade!”

“It sounds simple and humble.” He looked at his half-filled glass. “And it’s also your first holiday with Monsieur Multi, Monsieur Fuzzball, and Roi du Roses, that didn’t upset anything did it?”

Arisu shook his head. “Not at all, it’s been a fun break with them and I got Jamil and Riddle to sleep in an igloo one night…though, speaking of Jamil, I am worried about him.” 

Rook wrapped an arm around him and gently pulled him close. “Vil was right in choosing you as his personal project; I was a little worried he was biting off more than he can chew after he took on Epel as his first project and then you…” he lifted his chin so they were eye to eye. “You’re not following his facial routine.” He scolded playfully.

“It’s…been a crazy break, haven’t had the time.” 

“Oh? So it wasn’t because of you using your unique magic? Or could it be because you were recovering from food poisoning? We heard it from Grim, he’s easy to get information out of.” He watched as the boy turn his gaze away from him. “Arisu, talk to me, you know we care about you.”

“Jamil OB’ed.” Arisu looked down. “Rook…I don’t know how much more I can take this; each time I enter someone’s room, it hurts my heart more and more.” the blonde went on feeling himself unable to stop talking now that he'd started. "I had to watch the ink build up in Azul's pen and tried to stop him from having his OB episode... it didn’t work! I tried to intervene the moment I realized that Jamil had ink building up in his pen... it didn't work then either! Even tonight I thought I saw the ink in Vil's pen and tried to tell him to be careful he just waved me off. I hate having to watch people I care about be battered around like toys because I'm not strong enough to save them" he was beginning to work himself into a frenzy with his words. "It just... maybe it'd be better if I didn't have this stupid curse fucking up my blood! Maybe if I didn't have my weird soul room power, I could feel okay with washing my hands of this messed up school and its crazy traditions about how the dorms operate" Arisu went raking his fingers through his hair trying to make sense of everything and threatening to pull the strands out by the root in his rising panic. "I'm so tired Rook... I didn't sign up to be the campus therapist... am I a bad person for wanting out of this?" he said miserably before his hands were forced down to his sides and he was pulled into the green-eyed male's lap.

"Non, you aren't a bad person Peitit Lapin, you've done more than anyone has asked of you. The only thing you've done wrong is trying to shoulder all of this stress by yourself. You might not overblot in a grand fashion because of the emotional pressure but you shouldn't work yourself into exhaustion just so others don’t have to worry. That would be most selfish of you Petit Lapin" Rook replied pressing his lips against Arisu's own. "Have faith in your friends to be there for you"

Arisu laid his head on Rook’s shoulder and sighed, Rook just held him close and rubbed his shoulder before continuing. “Arisu, you will be learning about this in the spring but…Are you familiar with the Children of Light?” he saw the boy shake his head. “You could say they too share a similar burden you’re going through, doing everything for people in their own way. When you get to that part of your history lesson, come see me, okay? Pomefiore’s doors are always open for you.” 

“There’s times I forget you’re the ‘mom friend’ and looking out for us.” Arisu looked up at him. “One of the perks of being the Vice Head, huh?”

“Oh non, I’m just as harsh as Vil is when it comes to our students.” Rook smirked at him. “I’m only looking out for those I care about, like you.” He held his chin in his hand. “The new year is seconds away, why not start off with a fresh slate and stop trying to take the role of Atlas.”

With the countdown having ended in the background, their moment of quiet between them was interrupted by the fireworks the two pulled away and turned to the spectacle before them. Arisu smiled at the explosion of color before them, perhaps Rook had a point; he should stop trying to shoulder burdens alone, that’s what this year should be, he turned to his senior and relaxed against him once more. Rook smiled down at him and tilted his head so they were close again, he said something about starting the new year on a memorable note before kissing Arisu on the lips. There was hardly any hesitation from Arisu as he returned the kiss, was it the grasshoppers? Maybe, but he didn’t care, he was going to head forward on the new year with this memory to start it off.

On another blanket, Jack and Riddle were laying on their stomachs and watching the fireworks. Both were on the tired side of things – it was midnight after all, this was probably the latest Riddle had stayed up, excluding Arisu’s birthday of course. He yawned and shook his head to keep himself awake, Jack had taken notice and gently nudged him to get his attention; it helped a little bit since Riddle wasn’t trying to fall asleep again.

“First time staying up this late?” Jack asked, he watched as Riddle just nodded. “I’m the same, I’m not one for staying up late.”

Riddle looked up at him. “A wolf not being used to staying up late?” it was a forced joke.

Jack smiled at him. “You’re so tense, is being here in the Afterglow that stressful?”

“More or less.” Riddle admitted.

“I may not know the whole story but…you know you’re safe with us, right?” Jack asked. “I mean…Flower Boy’s kept you safe at Sunnydale.” He watched as Riddle just nodded. “Look, in some way, we’re a pack, and packs take care of each other.” He gently pulled the redhead close and laid his head on his. “You don’t have to worry about anything anymore.”

There was a moment of silence between them, the two stayed in each other’s embrace for some time. As the calm settled between them, Jack had felt his body move on its own as he found himself grabbing Riddle and tilting his head back before kissing the redhead on the lips. The moment their lip met; the world fell still. Both just stared at each other but made no attempt to break, it was weird, but it was actually kind of nice. Riddle closed his eyes and held onto Jack, though it felt abrupt, he welcomed it and the start of the New Year.

*****

Grim flopped onto the couch and groaned; Arisu was close behind and laid back on the chair. Holiday hangovers were the worse and never before they were glad it was the weekend and they had time to recover before school resumed on Monday. With a sigh, the two decided they were just going to put on a movie; Grim had suggested they watch Cats – “The good one, Arisu, not the CGI one.” They tend to just doze off during it, but it was a nice background noise to relax to. A few times when they woke up, they would see their ghostly friends perform along with the movie; Futuro was hamming up as Rum Tum Tugger, Paron and Passe were doing the mischief makers Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer and somewhere in the performance; they had Grim perform Mr. Mistoffelees and Arisu with Memory. It was a tired mess, but they still had fun regardless, and this went on with other musicals they decided to play and that lasted until the evening.

Returning to bed, Arisu sighed and snuggled into the bed. He didn’t really care about how late it was; he was just glad to be ready to start falling asleep in his old dorm again. The feeling was short-lived when the familiar glow from the mirror returned, he sighed and threw his covers off and covered Grim in the process as he made his way to the mirror before him. This time he was greeted to the same silhouette again; he was able to see with more clarity…a mouse? 

“Who’s there?” the mouse asked. “Who are you?”

This was weird, Arisu rubbed his eyes before replying. “My name is Arisu.”

“Arisu…weird name, but it sounds great.”

“Thank you.” Arisu looked over the mirror. “You look familiar to me, could you tell me who you are?”

The mouse nodded. “I’m Mickey, Mickey Mouse. Am I dreaming again? I’ve been seeing the same dream three times now; it’s always been the same living cards and dancing music.”

“No, I’ve had those dream too.” Arisu told him.

“I can hear your voice clearer now, maybe you’re not a dream.” The shadow of Mickey looked back at Arisu. “Where are you right now, Arisu?”

“I’m in Twisted Wonderland.” 

Before another word was said, the connection dropped. Arisu laid a hand on the glass and tapped it trying to get a hold of the strange mouse again; here he thought he had another ally about the strange events that’s been going on at the school. He really needed to talk to Vil about this when he got the first chance to. With a sigh, he made his way over to the bed and went back to sleep.

Come morning light, Arisu was forced awake by not only Riddle, but Vil as well, he was told to get into his ceremonial robe. Both Arisu and Grim were confused and just did what was asked before following the two to the Mirror Chamber, Vil had informed their mortal companion that Azul pulled some strings and that they were going to give Arisu a redo on the ceremony; he’s been here for some time and the magical spark should have grown enough to give him a decent dorm. Arisu protested that he actually liked Ramshackle and that the ghosts were amazing roommates, Riddle assured him that he could go back and forth if he’d like.

There was no way out of this ceremony. Arisu just shrugged and entered the Mirror chamber with the two; the other prefects were there and he gave a smile before Crowley led him up to the mirror.

The slave in the mirror appeared. “State thy name.”

“Arisu Shai.”

“The spark in thy soul has grown, a bright light emits.” The slave said. “The shape of thy soul is…Scarabia.”

Most of the prefects were in disbelief and some were screaming in disbelief (Malleus had even calmly said ‘Try again.’ To the mirror) but there was no change.

“I wasn’t expecting this.” Dire admitted. “Well…I suppose it’s a good thing we had the redo.”

Kalim walked up to Arisu and took his hand. “Welcome to Scarabia!”

“Thank you.” Arisu smiled. “You do know I’ll be returning to Ramshackle if the desert heat gets too much, right?”

“I know.” Kalim patted his shoulder. “But you’re still one of my students!” he smiled

Riddle crossed his arms. “He’s still attending our Unbirthdays, we’ve made him an honorary student of Heartslabyul.”

Arisu shook his head. “I get the odd feeling this is going to start a dorm war of fighting for me.” 

Dire just shrugged. “You know how to liven things up.” He patted his shoulder. “Suppose you’re officially a Scarabia student, we’ll get your dorm uniform in time.”

Translation; he was going to get someone else to get the uniform. Arisu shook his head, it was probably a good thing he didn’t unpack yet. The new year was starting off wild and he’d like off this ride.


	36. Chapter 36

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huh we haven't had a musical number in a while we should change that soon

With everyone returning to the school to resume the school year, the holiday hangover was still lingering; most of the teachers and students were still out of it come Monday that classes were mostly watching a movie and filling out a question sheet to fill out while watching the movie in question. The first week went that way and little by little everyone was returning back to normal; come the next week, the prefects were meeting with their headmaster about upcoming events (even though spring was months away, they’d rather have everything in place before anything else happened). No longer being a prefect anymore, Arisu was able to relax in his new dorm and work on the latest assignments with Grim. That was another thing when it came to starting the school year again; adding in when they were here for the winter, the desert heat was a bit much and they didn’t really want to fight with the students about the central air, they ended up buying a fan to cool their room off and that alone caused his new dormmates to stare at him in disbelief. Actually, now that Arisu thought about it, that wasn’t the only thing that got disbelief looks from them; he brought his car that he got on his birthday over and the look Jamil was giving him…he was certain the Vice Prefect was going to strangle him because of that.

Of course, his mind kept wandering to the mirror and the mouse he met. He was familiar with Mickey Mouse – heck, he grew up to every last bit of story that this world was a part of. At first, he thought that he was responsible for the visions, but after hearing that Mickey’s been having similar dreams as well, there was definitely something more going on with the mirror. Vil was most likely still at the meeting along with Kalim so he couldn’t really go up and ask them for help in that department. Tapping his pen in thought, Arisu thought about who he could ask about the mirror in this case; he nearly slapped himself with the realization, there was one other person he could ask. Excusing himself, he told Grim that he would be right back, he just had to make a phone call to family; Grim just nodded and went back to his own schoolwork. 

Stepping out of his room and going to the treasure vault, Arisu sat against the wall and took his phone out before dialing a number, he waited a few rings before he got an answer; “Hey Lilia, it’s me…can I ask you something strange?”

Lilia chuckled on the other end of the line. “Don’t tell me your new dorm is too much for you to handle.” He teased. “I’m kidding, Sunflower, what can I do for you in these trying times?”

Arisu smiled a little bit. “Okay, you already know how my world works, I’m asking this because I want to know this person’s significance in this world; does the name Mickey Mouse mean anything to you?”

There was silence on the other end of the phone before a sigh. “Yes, yes it does.” He said, “He’s currently residing in his kingdom the last time I’ve checked; not sure if he’s still world hopping or not.”

"Oh really, that’s weird... I read in a book that if you say his name three times while facing a mirror, he'll appear..." Arisu said causally, trying to keep his voice level as the lie left his lips. 

"What was that?" Lilia said his voice shifting from the nonchalant tone of a trickster to that of a parent whose child just broke a vase and won’t admit it. 

"Like uh you know, you look in a mirror and say mickey mouse, mickey mouse, mickey mouse. Then he like appears and stuff" Arisu said hearing how his voice wavered a little bit.

"Wrong answer" was all the vampiric fae said before hanging up. 

Arisu had barely time to blink let alone regret his decision before he was face to chest with Lilia in his adult form. The only other time he saw this form was during one Halloween night where he got mixed in with troublesome teenagers that would use car markers to draw dicks on city visitors’ cars, or the time he snuck out of class with the majority of his classmates; the end result was always the same – It never ended well with a pissed off Lilia.

“Well?” Lilia said. “I’m waiting, Arisu, tell me about the King showing up in a mirror.”

Arisu winced. “Right…you know the mirror in my dorm?” he watched him nod. “Well, the long story short, he showed up in it twice one night after the events of Azul OB’ing and two nights ago…He’s been having the same dreams as me and…two nights ago we talked for a brief moment.”

Lilia's features are fixed into a mask of casual disinterest but on the inside, he's snarling in annoyance at the audacity of the Royal Rat. He chided himself for not taking Lauriam's mirror back when the young man had originally disappeared from ramshackle and sealed the building into its current decrepit state with magic. 

"Oh? Is that all? Well, it’s not entirely uncommon for the Mouse King to talk to those with a connection to the princesses of light. However, he tends to only focus his attentions on those who are at RSA and have access to the Enchanted Mirror" Lilia says calmly letting his face shift into a half-grin.

Arisu decided to be bold and bring up the context; how at the start neither of them could make out what the other person was saying and just recently they could hear each other. It was only a matter of time before they could actually see each other. Lilia sighed and folded his hands; if he had to be honest, this was an interesting turnabout, he knew Arisu was born of light (and constantly had this ‘blood curse’ beaten into him, that reminded him…he should probably tell Leona the full truth about this, oh well, the Lion didn’t ask for details, his fault). 

“Arisu, I want you to tell me everything about that mirror.” Lilia ordered.

“I can’t.” Arisu hung his head. “This isn’t me going against you, but…what I know is according to others I sleepwalk to it and stare into it, however what I see are actually dreams.”

Lilia sighed. “Alright, give me a list of people who are aware of that mirror.” He took his phone out.

“Riddle, Leona, Rook.” He listed. “Those are the only ones I can think of at the moment.”

"Tsk, unfortunately both the little queen and lazy prince are busy at the dorm head meeting. I suppose we'll have to settle for the hunter" Lilia says clicking his tongue and teleporting away. Only for him to reappear a moment later in his normal youthful form on the shoulders of a bewildered-looking Rook who blinks quite a few times before regaining his bearings and clearing his throat.

"Monsieur Curiosity, Petit Lapin what a surprise. I wasn't expecting to see either of you again until classes were in full swing again" Rook said straightening his hat on his head where it had gone cock-eyed from Lilia's presence on his back. The fae doesn't hop down from his perch and instead outright swipes the hunter's hat while both wait on Arisu to speak. 

“Right…uh Rook, you’ve shown some pictures of me in a sleepwalking daze, uh could you fill us in on the mirror because I’m clearly out of the loop.” Arisu asked

Rook hummed. “Let’s see, if memory serves me correctly; in the pictures I was able to see a hint of a beach reflected in the mirror that you were staring into.” He explained. “The very beach you said you dreamed about with a mermaid in it?”

“Yeah, I was in the middle of a storm and when it calmed the Mermaid Princess had brought the prince back on shore.” 

“Oui, that same beach was reflected in the mirror as well. I believe it’s safe to assume that your dreams aren’t so much of dreams.” Rook explained.

"Kinda wish the mirror was larger so you guys could see what i see properly" Arisu says with a wistful sigh, having more surface to the looking glass would mean the images he saw would be easier to see.

"Maybe we can’t make the mirror bigger but we could make you smaller" Lilia said with a thoughtful look in his eye that slowly morphs into a mischievous look. 

"Oh? That could work, I think Roi de Poison might know a concoction that would do the job. There's also the possibility Jade-kun might have a mushroom that will serve our purposes" Rook says tilting his head back to wink at Lilia and smirk.

"I was thinking perhaps the little queen and his dormmates might have access to the shrinking cookie recipe as well as possessing someone with the culinary skills to create it" Lilia replies to the sounds of Arisu scoffing.

"Ahah no you are not shrinking me!" Arisu said in a forced jovial tone. “You can just forget about it.”

Lilia turned to Arisu and tilted his head at him. “Sweet little sunflower, I’m not entirely in favor of the idea myself but it is necessary for us to do this; we get a better picture we can probably help out with this little mirror dilemma.”

“And, you were the one who promised me you wouldn’t play the role of Atlas anymore.” Rook pointed out. “You’re not going back on that promise now, are you?”

Arisu let his shoulders drop and shook his head; by reluctantly agreeing with the two vices, he went to his room and told Grim that he would be a while again as Lilia and Rook were going to help him with the current mirror problem. Grim jumped onto his shoulder and agreed to join in on helping the best he could – after all, he was tired of Arisu talking in his sleep. Shaking his head, he took Grim and went to Ramshackle where Rook and Lilia would meet up with Jamil with the things needed to make him small.

The three were already in Arisu’s room and were looking over the mirror as their sunflower child came in; Jamil was recounting from the winter training camp that Riddle and Arisu were transfixed and honed in on the mirror together, Grim spoke up and brought up about what time Arisu usually wake up, and what he tended to mumble in his sleep.

Arisu stood in the doorway, his presence utterly forgotten amidst the chatter about how to safely handle shrinking him and inducting him into hypnosis to relive his dreams. As the planning grew louder and more energetic the blonde felt anger bubbling up in his stomach. He starting to get very tired of not being listened to by the people around him. What was the point of trying to shoulder less responsibility if the remaining responsibility he still possessed wasn't respected? This was even worse than his weekend spent in the Monstro Lounge fish tank, and that was saying something considering he still had the occasional nightmare about the experience of losing his legs and almost suffocating as his lungs had turned into gills. Better yet after Azul put him through that experience and had his OB episode, he tried to make amends. The octopus had eventually apologized for his selfish actions and confessed that he had known what he was doing was wrong all along.

Not so much in this situation. Lilia, Rook, and Jamil had completed shut-down his worries and concerns under the claim of doing what was best for him. Such actions hit far too close to the decrees the Coven had made for him to follow as a child. Arisu felt himself ready to burst with righteous rage at any moment but he tried to hold it in, bottle it up and force himself to be rational. They already thought he was acting childish and he didn't need to give them any more fuel for the flames.

Lilia looked over at Arisu and walked up to him, taking his face into his hand, “Sunflower, listen to me, I know how this looks but we need to do this. We need to get this mirror figured out and those visions, please, let us do the heavy work.” 

“How can you be sure this plot will work, what if we don’t get the answer we’re looking for?” Arisu challenged. 

Lilia smiled. “A great magician takes risks in life; we won’t know until we try.” He kissed his cheek. “Please trust us?”

Arisu looked at him before shaking his head. “Can’t we find a way that doesn’t involve shrinking me?”

“Arisu, you and Riddle are the only ones who’ve been through this.” Rook reminded. “It has to be this way.”

"No, the hell it doesn't! You're only acting this causal cause you're not the one who's gonna be shrunk to the size of a goddamn barbie!" Arisu said not able to keep the resentment out of his voice. "Why can’t we just work with what we already have in regards to the mirror's reflection in the pictures?" he said after a moment.

"Unfortunately, the images we have won’t be sufficient Sunflower not if we want to make any progress with solving the problem before us" Lilia said with a shake of his head.

"I can’t believe what I'm hearing" Arisu said in desperation as he turned on his heel and made to leave the room and the dorm at large. Someone grabbed his wrist in an effort to stop him from going but he wrenched his arm free with a grunt at he headed towards Savanaclaw; he needed to talk to someone wouldn't treat him like an overreacting child.

 *****  
Leona watched him and groaned, he did not sign up to be the kid’s babysitter and having him bitch about what’s been happening was enough for him to just want to smother him with a pillow. Okay, he understood where the boy was coming from, he could see why being a guinea pig for some experiment like this was a bad idea in every sense of the word; but at the same time, he actually had to side with Lilia on this – it was best to know what the hell was going on with that damn mirror, there was something going on with it and it was concerning. 

After some time, Leona finally had enough of this kid’s meltdown; “You’re both right and you’re both fucking selfish.” He finally said. “Kid, I know being used in a plan like this suck and you have every right to be pissed off about it; there has to be another way to get information.” He looked at his claws. “However, you’re being pretty selfish about going against it; that mirror has been doing nothing but cause you problems since you first got here and not taking the chance to learn about it is just going to add more problems. With that the pile grows and grows until it cracks. And when that happens, you’ll be nothing more than a shell of your former self and essentially a living doll with no soul.”

Arisu looked over at him and sat on the bed. “If you have any ideas, I’m all ears.”

"How about you try thinking about it from someone else's perspective? You're like a runaway train, kid. There are people trying to help you switch tracks and slow down so you don't crash and burn in a fiery blaze of circumstance" Leona said refusing to sugar coat his words to Arisu. "By refusing to let them help you, you're not only hurting yourself but hurting them too."

Arisu didn't like what Leona was saying but deep down he knew the lion beastman was making a good point. It helped hearing this all from someone who wasn't involved in the shrinking plan that it was worth trying the idea and hoping that the efforts wouldn't be permanent. Reluctantly he returned to his dorm only to find that a small box had been left on his bed. When he opened it, he found a couple packets of powdered lemonade mix and found himself overwhelmed with the urge to just pop the mix in his mouth raw while no one was looking. 

He fought the urge forcing himself to just pocket a packet and go down to the kitchen to get water to turn the mix into proper lemonade for drinking. With a sigh, he sat on the bed and tore open one of the packets and held it up in a ‘cheers’ motion before downing it in one gulp, it took a while to get the powder down with how dry it was. He felt a wave wash over him before he found his world grow before him…no, that wasn’t right; the world wasn’t growing, he was shrinking. Would he disappear? He was actually grateful that his clothes shrunk with him, and when he was the size of a barbie, he saw the small group approach him.

Lilia smiled and gently picked him up before putting him on the mantle before the mirror and stood to the side to let Jamil do his work; he smiled at him and performed a proper hypnosis. The blond before them had a glassy-eyed look, and Jamil’s orders were to go to the latest dream; the desert where it started. Arisu turned and laid a hand on the mirror before him changing the normal reflection to that of the desert where Jafar and the common thief were meeting up to head to the fabled Cave of Wonders.

“Urgh, this vision is pointless. It won’t tell us anything that we don't already know" Jamil said irritably. 

He tapped Arisu's shoulder and instructed the boy to skip through the vision and go on to the next one. Obediently, the blonde did just that the surface of the mirror blurring as it skipped forward past the common thief being killed by the cave before going dark for a moment before brightening as the second vision began playing out. 

There were a clusterfuck of things happening all at once as Prince Ali made his way into the city with his magical procession. Every so often Jamil would instruct Arisu to stop the action so that the group could scrutinize the scene for minor details and take pictures of what was being shown. Once they'd gotten enough data from the current frame then Arisu would resume play on the vision. There was a laugh all around at the unimpressed reaction of Princess Jasmine at seeing the extravaganza before her.

The vision went from the parade over to the final one where Jafar rose to power through the power of genie; becoming the sultan and eventually a genie himself. Unlike before; there was more to the vision and that was where the street rat, Aladdin, was the one who tricked Jafar into using the last wish for such and trapping the evil genie inside a black lamp. The scene ended with everything returning to normal and Arisu waking up to end the visions for good.

Rook took Arisu from the mantel and gave him a small spoonful of another powdered substance to help him return to normal size. Lilia hummed and tapped his chin in though before turning to Jamil; one thing was clear; these visions were to let Arisu know of events mirroring the past. Ace had said something similar when it came to dreaming about the past. He was being warned by something, and knowing that the Rat King was receiving the same ones…

“I’m going to have to talk to Malleus about this.” Lilia finally said. “It’s clear there’s something going on with the Great Seven and their pasts; I believe it’s time for a family visit between us.”

Jamil raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, Malleus and I are going to be busy to play with you children.” Lilia said. “You just worry about schoolwork.” After saying that, he had left the group to their own devices.

Bitter at the end of everything, Arisu had turned to the group; after all of this they didn’t have any results to show, it was a waste of time and he went through the ridiculous shrinking idea for nothing! "I hope you bastards are pleased with yourselves. I'm going to Sam's shop and buy myself a pet tarantula and enough iron to form a barrier around ramshackle" Arisu said in a pissed tone as he got up to leave before stopping to give Grim a withering look. "And you, I’m not buying you anymore tuna so have fun getting creative with meals" he said, not sincere about starving the cat but wanting to make his feelings quite clear. 

Storming out of Ramshackle, the blonde made his way towards the store with the full intent on gathering the objects he wanted; the only thing stopping him from getting to the door of the store was the headmaster himself; he wasn’t in the mood to deal with whatever inane errand he had concocted – they always ended up sour and he always ended up dealing with…an overblot victim. Arisu fell still and stared Crowley in the eyes, silently wondering what it was that the man wanted from him.

“Ah, Arisu! I was hoping to run into you! This saves me time and money buying stamps.” Crowley took out an envelope from his jacket and held it to him. “Could you deliver these to Royal Sword Academy for me? It’s an invitation to our school’s Culture Festival!”

“Wait…you want me to go to another school to…deliver invitations?” Arisu looked at the envelope in hand; black with gold cursive writing that read ‘You’re invited!’. “Where did this come from?”

“Well, I’ve been getting reports that a student from there would visit you and I figured since you were friends with people of that school, it would make more sense for you to go and deliver the invitations to them!” Crowley laid a finger on his chin in thought. “You’re a curious mortal, you’re making friends with a lot of elite students…” he shrugged and smiled. “You’ll be fine, just use the Dark Mirror to head to their school!”

Okay, it was just delivering invitations to the school. Arisu shrugged and shook his head, he wasn’t going to use the mirror – though it was convenient he wasn’t going to risk getting caught by a hall monitor. Instead, he returned to his dorm, he said nothing to the group and instead grabbed the set of keys from the fireplace mantle and went to where his new car was parked. He was nervous about this, but he managed to back out without a problem and started to drive off to the academy. Upon arriving at the gates, Arisu only realized that the deadbeat headmaster hadn't told him who specifically he was supposed to give the invitations to. With a sigh, he just pulled into the courtyard and locked the car before heading to the school itself.

Royal Sword Academy was definitely different than Night Raven College; it was so bright, their banner had two horses by a crest with the school’s name on it, it was settled by a beach and the school ahead was a pristine palace instead of the Dracula looking one from NRC! Arisu was caught up in the beauty of the place that he wasn’t entirely paying attention to where he was going until he stumbled into someone. 

“Ah! Sorry.” Arisu backed off and bowed in apology. Next thing he knew he was being bonked on the back of the head with a hardcover book. He jerked up into an upright position with a yelp of pain and rubbed the fresh bump on his head. "Hey what was that for?" the blonde said with dismay looking accusingly at the boy who had just whopped him over the skull.

"Watch where you're going doofus" the boy said crossly still clutching his book. "And who the hell are you anyways?" he added after a moment looking Arisu up and down with clear distrust in his eyes. "You're from NRC, aren't you? God damnit, you need to stop trying to steal our school mascot." the boy said throwing the sudden accusation the blonde's way.

"Woah! I'm not here to steal anything. I was sent over to deliver invitations to the cultural festival. I'm supposed to get these out to a Whitney Darrin, Ashley Cendres, Akihiko Tatsuo, Neige LeBlanche, Trevor Beau, Riel Currant and Andre Rosales. Do you know any of them?" Arisu trying to calm this irritable boy before he got hit again.

"Yeah, one of them" the boy said snatching one of the envelopes from Arisu even though the blonde let out a cry of protest. "Urgh, I don’t wanna go to the cultural festival I'll have to see that creepy gym coach Vargas." he said with a frown. Arisu's eyes were drawn to the envelope that the boy had chosen and he made the assumption that this must be Andre based on the envelope he'd grabbed.

Taking in the boy a little bit better; he had curly reddish-brown hair and blue eyes behind thick rimmed glasses and was dressed in the white uniform of the school. The boy noticed him staring and narrowed his eyes again at him, Arisu just stepped back and held his hands up before muttering sorry and asking where he could find the others. With a sigh, Andre just led him through the school.

After a few minutes passed in the halls, Arisu decided to try starting up a conversation between the two; “I guess introductions are in order. My name is Arisu Shai, well it was, mom’s working on changing our last names to her maiden name so…soon my name is going to be Arisu Carol.”

“I’m going to assume it’s to cut ties with the toxic coven.” Andre shrugged. “I’m Andre Rosales, uh…nice to meet you I guess.” He looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “So…how’d you get roped into Night Raven?”

“I got too curious for my own good and came upon the Ebony Carriage.” Arisu explained. “It’s a long story but, I’m enjoying my time at the school, I’ve made amazing friends there; Ace and Deuce are always a fun duo to be around, teatime with Riddle is a relaxing experience.”

“Whoa!” a new voice came. “You actually got to hang out with Riddle? He’s near impossible to approach without risking your neck in a collar!”

The new comer had short black hair under a black sailor hat with a red lining and bow patterns on top of it; under the uniform was a sweater where the top part was mostly blue and the lower part in yellow; patterns of squirrels in white and water drops in red was seen. The boy made his way over and looked at Arisu a little more closely before his brown eyes lit up in excitement.

“Hey! I know you! You were with Vil during the Poisoned Apple’s photoshoot!” he took his hand and shook it. “It’s nice to meet you! My name is Neige, I’m Vil’s younger stepbrother.” He looked at Andre. “And I’ve seen you met up with the school’s grouch, Andre, I’m sorry for his first impression.”

Arisu just blinked. “Uh it’s nice to meet you too Neige.” He freed his hand and held out an invitation to him. “I was told to deliver this to you.”

“Oh? It’s that time already?” Neige took it and opened it. “Hmm…I may be a bit late but I’ll be sure to show up to the festival!”

“That’s great to hear, I’m actually here to deliver the rest of the invites.” Arisu held the remaining invitations up.

Neige’s smile grew brighter as he looked at the names on them; without hesitating, he linked arms with Andre and Arisu before leading the way to where the others were. The rest of the invitation delivering went without a problem, the students that Arisu had met were an interesting group; Ashley was a dorm leader and was a member of the science club, the first thing he did upon meet Arisu was adjusting his tie and school uniform while gently reminding him that since he was here representing his school, he should look the part. After meeting Ashley was Akihiko Tatsuo and Riel Currant, both were found on the beach making a seashell necklace and smiling bright over at the group approaching them; the smile fell a bit when they saw Arisu in the Night Raven uniform but kept a polite appearance.

Upon seeing Riel, Arisu’s eyes lit up a bit; “Hey…uh sorry if this seems a bit out there but, you wouldn’t happen to be the same Prince Riel from Azul’s class…would you?”

Riel sighed. “That would be me, are you friends with Azul and the Leech Twins?”

“It’s a work in progress.” Arisu assured. “We’re on better terms than we were earlier in the year, and he’s helped me out – without the use of contracts.”

“Azul helping someone without binding them into a contract? That’s something you never hear.” Riel shook his head. “What can we do for you?”

Neige bounded over with two of the envelopes; “It’s time for the Culture Festival!” he held them out to them.

“Oh? My, how the time flies.” Akihiko took his invite and smiled. “Thank you…you.” He chuckled. “I’m sorry, but you forgot to introduce yourself to us.”

“Arisu Carol.” Arisu took a bow. “A pleasure to meet you.”

“Arisu?” Akihiko repeated. “Are you by any chance a descendant of Alice herself?”

There was a heavy sigh; “I swear if I get that question one more time…” Arisu straightened up. “No, my mom loved the story Alice in Wonderland and bestowed the Romanji name for Alice to me when I was born, and that’s it; I have no connection to Alice herself in any way shape or form.”

“Sorry, it’s just …I mean, she’s one of the Benevolent Seven here and after hearing your name I got a little excited that someone with the light of the Seven was visiting us.” 

“You’re fine.” Arisu assured him. “Just so you know before anyone starts calling me ‘Alice’, that nickname is reserved for friends only…I mean…I would like to be your friends if possible.”

Niege patted his back. “We would happily let you in our circle!”

Andre glared over at Niege. “Idiot, he could be saying that so he could get close to our mascot!”

“I just said I have no plans in kidnapping anyone or anything.” Arisu said in a flat tone. “Who is your mascot exactly?”

Riel spoke up; “Andre’s talking about Alchemi, he’s kind of weird; the student has seer ability and can see multiple futures and outcomes – it’s not a unique magic, it just happens at will so he’s usually staring off into space.” 

“Alchemi…you mean Che’nya?” Arisu asked. “He’s been showing up at NRC at random and constantly talking in cryptic tips…”

“He’s been going to _Night Raven College **willingly**_!?” Andre asked in disbelief. “Okay, the first time we could understand since he likes to visit his Red Queen, but the other times?!”

Andre’s shout of disbelief had called upon another student; a brunet made his way over with another student at his side; the brunet was scolding the group to a decree about making a ruckus outside of the school – and in front of a guest no less. Long brown hair pulled back, black bowtie while wearing a blue shirt under the dorm uniform, he introduced himself as Whitney before going up to Arisu and apologizing for Andre’s outburst, the blond had to assure him that everything was fine and that he was only here to deliver invitations to the school’s culture festival.

The other student beside him walked up and took the remaining envelopes from Arisu and thanked him before extending a free hand to him; “My name is Trevor, it’s nice to meet you.” He smiled bright at him.

Looking at Trevor’s eyes, they were a familiar violet tone. Arisu was very much tempted to ask him if he was related to Silver in anyway, he never got the chance as Neige hurried over and hugged Arisu from behind and proclaiming him as part of their circle. Out of the entire group; the only one who wasn’t on board with the notion was Andre, Whitney only raised an eyebrow and asked if Arisu had agreed to being part of their friend group or if Neige just brought him in without asking. 

“My exact words were; I would like to join the group if you would have me.” Arisu cleared up. “I know our school has a history of bad blood, but I don’t want that to define us.”

“You’re a good person.” Trevor smiled. “We’d love to have you with us if you’ll have us.”

“I’d like to remind everyone that we know little to nothing about him other than his name.” Andre pointed out.

Trevor waved Andre off; “That’s what getting to know someone is all about!” he wrapped an arm around Arisu’s shoulder. “We can do that when we walk you back to your school! I’m sure you have your classes to worry about too.” He started off and led him off, the others following behind. 

Arisu wasn't sure how to tell this baby-faced Silver clone that his idea might not turn out so well but he didn't have the heart to say anything to him. Luckily for him Trevor seemed to have plenty to say both about himself and the rest of his friend group between questions about the blonde. Arisu tried to answer the questions best he could but it seemed as soon as he answered one question, Trevor already had two more questions to ask.

He was honestly kind of grateful when he reached his car and was able to bid the boys farewell after exchanging phone numbers with everyone. He promised to send them all a text when he finally got back to Night Raven College. Even though he was now in a much better mood, Arisu still stopped by Sam's to buy the iron and the tarantula before going to Ramshackle and falling into bed after setting up his new pet's terrarium.


	37. All Through the Night/"Family Meeting!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay have fun looking for this song: Ar Hyd y nos.

Ensuring the door was locked and the ‘closed’ sign was flipped, the twins returned to Azul’s side and the meeting could begin; Azul looked to the group that consisted of one Leona Kingscholar, Riddle Rosehearts, Vil Schoenheit, Rook Hunt, Lilia Vanrouge, Malleus Draconia, and Jamil Viper. This was bound to be an interesting outcome, but Azul swore to remain professional while around this group. 

“Gentlemen, thank you for coming here.” Azul started out. “Let’s start out with the obvious; Arisu has grown so far during his time here, I daresay that his magic usages have been improving quite a lot.” He praised, before dropping his smile. “But as his powers grow his health is quite abysmal.” He leaned back. “Now then, would anyone like to shed some light onto this? Or should I go on a limb with his blood test result?”

"I think I might be able to clear some things up" Vil said getting to his feet and walking to where Azul is standing with Rook trailing not far behind with a stack of photographs. "Now first of all, show of hands if your familiar with the term Residual Ink" the blonde said and when only Leona, Malleus, and Lilia's hands shot up he let out a sigh. "Seriously? Well, whatever, I guess I'll start with explaining that; residual ink is a side-effect of overblotting, think of it like the scars that form after contracting and surviving smallpox. Even though you aren't able to OB again you still have some of the ink in your system for the rest of your natural life." he says and waits for the three second years to nod their heads in understanding.

"Now for the person who overblots their own residual ink isn't going to hurt them post-overblot. However, if their ink somehow got inside someone else's body that would be a different story. Case in point, when Kalim got a dose of ink via a hair snake" Vil goes on and Rook holds up a picture before waving his pen so a projection of the image would appear. The picture is of Kalim in the midst of laughter with his head thrown back, on his throat there is a very clear mark of where a snake's teeth sunk in for a possible kill. "At first Al-Asim was totally fine, no signs of a negative reaction to being injected with residual ink. However, his magic began trying to break down the ink which made him very sick. He reported having a fever and puking near the end of the process of the ink being expelled from his system" he says before Azul clears his throat to interrupt.

"That’s very interesting but we're trying to figure out what's wrong with Arisu, not why Kalim was vomiting like a frat boy" the octopus said in his customer service voice. 

"I know that, and I am making my point so be patient. So anyways, the puking and fever Kalim went through were the result of just one dose of residual ink. Now imagine what having five doses of residual ink in your system might do. And not all from the same source but from five different ones meaning there are five strains of ink simultaneously wrecking the body" Vil then nods at Rook who cycled through pictures of Arisu, one shows the choke marks left by Riddles vines, another shows the claw marks on his chest from Leona, a third is of the suction-cup marks curtesy of Azul's tentacles on Arisu's abdomen, and fourth is of the bitemarks that Jamil's hair snakes inflicted on the boy's collarbone. The final picture is a close up of Arisu's open mouth where a half-healed scab is visible on his tongue.

"Okay, I’ll bite who went and bit the kid's tongue?" Leona said trying to sound uninterested. 

"That would be self-inflicted, he admitted to biting his tongue during his first fight with an overblotted entity. A dwarf I believe and the ink got in his mouth and his freshly bleeding tongue. So anyways, Arisu's body is trying to fight off the residual ink in his system but it’s struggling because his magic isn't very powerful and it makes it near impossible for his blood to be properly tested since it’s been tainted so bad. This is also why he's been getting sick easier and why he threw up during his time at Scarabia during the winter break. I've been able to extract some of the ink via purging rituals but those are very painful for Arisu and they are only a short-term solution. So, any questions?" Vil says with a calm finality.

Leona raised his hand; “Each victim went after him, how true is the blood curse notion?”

“I can answer that.” Lilia spoke up. “Technically speaking; the coven drilled the whole ‘you are cursed’ aspect into his head since he was a child because of his birth. I am praying to every god out there you know about this, if not, then just tell me where I lost you.” He folds his hands together. “Arisu was born of light, by definition he’s a Child of Light.”

Jade tilted his head in curiosity. “Child of Light?” he repeated. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t the Children of Light said to be descendants of the Princesses? Or was it they’re descendants of the ones who rebuilt the world from the shadows?”

"Both are true enough; the Children of Light, the Benevolent Ones' Progeny, all of these mean the same thing. Magically inclined souls that share their magic with someone from the Era of Enteral Light. Think of them as the light mirror-match of the Scions of the Seven" Lilia says and all the teens nod their heads in understanding. "The Benevolent Ones' Progeny and the Scions of the Seven tend to come into conflict whenever they cross paths. For example, Azul you've had some encounters with Prince Riel yes?" the fae pauses to let the octopus nod his head. "Ever since you first met him you disliked him, right? Well, that dislike is instinctive, since you are the Scion of the Sea Witch and he is the Progeny of the Merprincess your souls are destined to clash until one of you overwhelms the other or something forces you apart" he finishes with a nod.

“How the hell would anyone know who’s who?” Jamil demanded.

Vil raised his hand. “The soul rooms.” He started. “Those who are the Scions of the Great Seven would have something linking them; for example, Riddle has the Queen’s scepter, Azul with the Sea Witch’s shell, and so on.” He took his phone out and went to his notes. “As for how I know this, Arisu told me; I’ve been working with him and his little soul journey and he’s told me every single one of you so far.”

Riddle tapped his fingers in thought; “Going to Azul and Riel for a second; I have noticed that when I first met Arisu I wanted to slap him; he didn’t do anything to me but…I just wanted to slap him across the face, even when he was trying to defuse a situation between Ace and I.” he looked to Lilia. “Is it safe to assume he’s Alice’s Progeny?”

Lilia hummed. “It’s possible, he was born of light after all.” He shrugged. “But going into his soul room is going to be tricky; it’s safe to assume Vil’s been teaching him how to perform his own mental block.”

"I've been trying to yes. However, I haven't been able to make much progress with him. His mental defenses are unusually low for someone of his age, if I didn't know better, I'd think someone tampered with his head as a child to make it easier to invade as he got older" Vil says with a sigh. Everyone's eyes shoot over to Malleus and Lilia who both shake their heads in answer to the silent question of if it was them who messed with Arisu's developing brain.

"Regardless he can at least recognize that there is an intruder in his mind now instead of being an easy victim of mind-control via suggestion" Vil says and Jade lets out overly dramatic sigh before winking with a toothy grin. "But he's still nowhere near being able to defend himself mentally. Oh, and Riddle... I'm honestly surprised his soul didn't get overwhelmed by yours the first time you two clashed with each other. Considering the situation between you two I mean" he adds shaking his head thoughtfully.

Riddle looked over. “He said when he first entered my room my shield was that of an icy wall that he couldn’t get by.” He crossed his arms. “I’m going to safely assume the reason for the ice is because it reflected the cold attitude I had towards others.”

“Most likely.” Vil said. “That and…I’m certain you were cold to Arisu because you saw him as a troublemaker at the time and didn’t want him close; my guess is if someone else were to try entering, they would be greeted to the Queen of Hearts’ court and you wielding an ax.” 

“As fun as this conversation is, it’s starting to bore me.” Floyd groaned. “Why does it matter if Damselfish is a Child of Light or not?”

Lilia’s expression turned grim; “Because he’s had contact with _him_.” He closed his eyes to take a breath. “It goes to that mirror in Ramshackle; turns out…both Arisu and a particular king’s been having the same ‘dreams’ and the two had been able to contact each other for a brief time.”

"Again, why does any of this matter? Who cares if Damselfish is having dreams about some random king?" Floyd said tapping his foot impatiently.   
  
"Because its King Mickey, as in fucking King Michael Theodore Mouse. As in someone who is banned from meddling with affairs at Night Raven College and is now able to meddle again via dream conversations with Arisu" Lilia says darkly. Floyd rolls his eyes not really getting the severity of this statement but everyone else does and there is a collective gasp.

"I'd say we should let the headmaster know about this but... I think we can all agree the less Crowley knows the better for us" Azul says with a frown. "If we can’t find a way to either keep the Rat Royal from contacting Arisu then we're gonna have to put him a situation where Arisu can’t have those dreams that open his mind up to the Rat's machinations. Like putting him through an extended time as a merman again" he adds after a moment.

“That’s not going to work.” Riddle and Malleus said simultaneously.

Malleus cleared his throat; “The visions will go to the next person that Arisu trusts; when Riddle stayed in Ramshackle, he experienced the same sleepwalking behavior in Arisu’s place.”  
  
“Can confirm.” Jamil spoke up. “One of our hall monitors got me about the two leaving their room in Scarabia, I followed them and saw Riddle lay a hand on Arisu before going into the same trance as the other.” He leaned back. “Maybe the mouse isn’t trying to contact him…maybe there’s something else about the mirror.”

“It’s as old as Ramshackle and Pomefiore.” Vil sighed. “And okay, I was wrong in my earlier statement about it belonging to a student from the 60’s.” he tapped his chin. 

“We know one thing; each of those dreams brought mention to the Great Seven.” Lilia said. “And…Malleus and I _did_ try talking to the Mistress, to say she was excited to return to the Valley would be a lie, she was enjoying the Caribbean too.” He shrugged. “But she’s looking into the ties as we speak – after all, there were a few times in the past the Great Seven had met up with each other so we just have to wait until she gets back to us about it.”

“Azul, you said that the headmaster signed a deal with you, something about the Sea Witch’s shell?” Riddle asked. “Could you tell us about it?”

“I’m sparing you the long version of it, the shell once belonged to Poseidon and he gifted Ursula it, the shell was full of lethal hexes and spells.”

“I’m sorry.” Leona held his hand up. “Are you seriously telling us that Poseidon, gave his daughter a shell with lethal magic?” he watched Azul nod. “What the fuck? That’s like Maleficent gifting Malleus a cursed spinning wheel!”

Malleus gave a rough elbow nudge; “For your information, she did, and I made use of it.” He summoned his scepter and aimed it at Leona. “Want me to demonstrate the sleeping death with this? I can!”

“Break it up!” Lilia snapped. “You’re not in first grade anymore."

Azul cleared his throat to bring the attention back to him; “Anyway, the Headmaster wanted that shell for whatever reason, wouldn’t disclose the information to me. However, I told him that such a task would be a challenge as the obvious reason being the ocean is vast and the deeper you go…well, let’s just say there’s some nasty creatures you don’t want to meet. So, the chances of finding the Sea Witch’s shell is near impossible. He still signed on the agreement and here we are today.”

“That’s just rising more questions about the headmaster.” Leona sighed. “A’right, so with everything said…where does that leave us now?”

"We can't really move forward with any further planning until after the Mistress sends word about what information she's able to disclose to us. She is one of the only two of the Original Great Seven who is still alive. The other being Hades of course but he's less reliable in my opinion because of his nature" Lilia says with a shrug. 

"I might know a way we can talk to another member of the great seven..." Leona says his gaze adverted. "And it might not be pretty, and you'll definitely not like it. But it will let us talk to them as early as today if we hurry" he adds after a moment.

“You know what, I’m not going to ask.” Lilia sighed. “Go…get what you need and come back right away.” 

_“I suppose the wild-cat can have some good ideas"_ Malleus thought to himself with a small grin. At the start of this little impromptu meeting, he'd been seated next to young Viper but he'd gradually switched seats until he was in the seat next to Riddle. He'd been meaning to get the little queen alone for personal reasons but he'd been experiencing some difficulty because of interference by Floyd Leech. Malleus had been glaring at the brutish eel and growling at him every so often this entire meeting until the boy had left to cause havoc with his twin. 

Even better the little queen suddenly tipped over so his head landed in the draconic-fae's lap as he let out a soft snore. Malleus's grin grew wider at this action, he'd been in this position many times before when Silver was a child. He ran his hand through the redhead's hair as he continued to listen to the debate that was raging between Lilia and the wild-cat before finally speaking up. "I think this meeting has gone long enough; the little queen has fallen asleep. We can continue this at a later time after he has gotten his rest" he announced causing everyone to go silent and turned to stare at him and Riddle.

Leona’s eyes widened a bit; “Uh Malleus, I don’t think you know a thing about this runt; Riddle and afternoon naps go together like pineapples and pizza, it doesn’t work out.”

Malleus hummed; “He has been relaxed lately, perhaps he’s able to allow himself one.”

“Unlikely.” Vil walked over and laid a glowing hand on Riddle’s head. “Interesting…” he had a small smirk. “It seems our little Alice had learned a new trick with his soul walking ability.”

 *****  
Being in Mr. Trein’s music class had always been a nerve-racking experience; there was the Valentine’s Day finals that was coming up and everyone had been given most of the year to get their love songs down and the report on them, and on top of that every Friday he would pick on random students to perform a solo of his choosing just to see if anyone was actually paying attention to the class. Arisu watched as Ace was performing Always on My Mind (the Elvis Presley version); surprisingly, Ace was nailing it and putting his all into it (of course, it could be because he didn’t want to go through a lecture for messing it up).

After Ace came Epel with A Jug of Punch – he had his own guitar to play the notes and perform without batting an eyelash. Arisu had to be honest, he always enjoyed seeing his friends up in front of the class; not only because he got to see how everyone’s grown through this crazy school year, but also because he got enjoyment knowing he hasn’t been called up to the front of the class once! A small triumphant grin had graced his face when he heard Jack’s name being called and the song he was going to perform – Fool Hearted Memory by George Strait. Mr. Trein must be in the mood for anything that requires a guitar to play for the song.

“Arisu Shai.” Trein fell quiet. “Carol.” He corrected.

Alright, it seemed that Karma was against him for taking enjoyment out of seeing everyone else get called up and perform for the class. Arisu stood up and made his way to the front of the class with his songbook in hand, straightening his posture and opening the book to ready himself for whatever song the teacher had in mind.

“Translate; Ar Hyd y Nos.” Trein ordered.

“Welsh for All Through the Night.” Arisu flipped the pages to the song in question and winced a bit, lullabies were never his forte, something about slow songs always tripped him up. With the piano going, he settled his breathing; panicking wasn’t going to do any good here, he just had to envision himself beside one of his friends and the song will go smooth.

After the opening of the score, Arisu turned to his book for the lyrics; **“Sleep my love and peace attend thee, all through the night; guardian angels God will send thee, all through the night. Soft the drowsy hours are creeping, hill and vale in slumber steeping, I my loving vigil keeping all through the night.”**

Ace had a grin of his own when he heard Arisu’s name, he had been waiting for that mortal to be called up for some time and now it had finally happened! The sweet taste of victory lasted for a few seconds, he looked back to Arisu before feeling his eyes widen; the boy’s golden eyes were dulled, but the energy in the song was still strong – the idiot was unintentionally casting a spell! 

**“Angels watching ever round thee, all through the night; in thy slumbers close surround thee, all through the night. They will of all fears disarm thee, no forebodings should alarm thee. They will let no peril harm thee, all through the night.”**

At the start of the song, Arisu had found himself at a familiar rose garden; Riddle’s soul room had taken on a new form; a rose garden filled with red and white roses with hedgehogs running around and playing, a good-sized country house with white siding and red shutters settled in the middle. Upon entering the house, Arisu had found the prefect reading on the couch and had a tart beside him; he was happy to see the blond and had exchanged some pleasantries. Sometime during the song, Riddle had begun to fall asleep on the couch before him; not knowing what else to do he just pick the prefect up and carried him to a bedroom – okay, it was a bit of the struggle; sure, Arisu had some muscles from his time at baseball, but he’s never carried someone before!

After setting Riddle on the bed, and finishing the song; Arisu was brought back to the world of waking after someone had clapped their hands by his ear. He blinked and looked up to see Ace beside him and tilted his head in confusion; before a word was said between them, Mr. Trein spoke up.

“Aside from the nerves at the start, it was acceptable.” He nodded. “Mr. Trappola, care to explain your actions?”

Ace looked over and huffed; “Short version is Arisu was unintentionally casting a spell while performing!”

Trein raised an eyebrow, and Arisu quickly assured he would get that under control; the teacher just nodded and sent the two back to their seats, he would have to talk to the boys after class about this.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [A Dream or Two for You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26828392) by [Megan_is_MIA](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megan_is_MIA/pseuds/Megan_is_MIA)
  * [Madness of King Draconia](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27003253) by [Megan_is_MIA](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megan_is_MIA/pseuds/Megan_is_MIA)




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